17 October 2010

Notes on a Weekend

tUMD 5, Monks 3
tUMD 7, Monks 1

Mes amis, how could I have abandoned you like this? No posts, no tweets, nothing since Thursday?

I know, I know. Sometimes life interferes, and sometimes, life is just too important to spend it snarking about hockey.

What a perfect weekend it was for all of us, wasn't it? I just finished watching a Vikings win and it was just the icing on the cake. The cherry on the sundae. The empty net goal by Mike Connolly with three seconds left in the game. Got it.

Friday I did actually go to the game, along with 6 members of my family, and we started off the season the right way: with dinner at Sammy's. As we got to the game (right on time... 30 seconds into the period...) we ran right into elusive Gopher fan/RWD reader The Beard, with an extra special sighting of Mrs. The Beard (who is not bearded), which is always a blast. Apparently The Beard coached a person on Providence. He must have done an ok job as said person managed to get an assist this weekend. It must have been nice for him to see some real hockey instead of the crap going on at Mariucci.

Friday's game was maybe not the best game tUMD could have played. It took the guys awhile to get going. My uncle, not knowing this, felt that every puck that went somewhere in the offensive zone was going to go in the net and yelled "THERE IT IS!" UMD dumped the puck in the zone and I asked why he didn't say anything. Good times! Then Providence got the first goal with under two minutes to go in the first period, and a collective "here we go again" arose from all of us.

But, these aren't your grandfather's Bulldogs! Or, more specifically, these aren't my grandfather's Bulldogs. Justin Fontaine scored a little over a minute later on the power play to even it up going into the break! It's like a brand-new hockey game when the team can come out tied after the break instead of down a goal.

I'm so pleased I was there to see JT Brown's first goal as a Bulldog! He's of course already one of My Guys, but MEg decided we also needed him on our fantasy team. OF COURSE. He is just a sick player. We have 2 legit lines and are working on a third. Sucks to be all those people who thought tUMD lacked "depth." Providence tied it up on the PP, which was annoying, but Mike Connolly, with an absolute blast that caused me to do a double take because I thought it was another player, put tUMD on top again, and then Travis Oleksuk, on a clean shorthanded breakaway, drew a penalty shot... and actually scored on it!!! Awesome! Miraculous, even!

It would have been nice, in the third period, to continue to pour it on, but no more scoring occurred until Providence pulled their goalie and scored to come within one. That was unfortunate. Then Mike Connolly got an empty net goal to seal the game for us and we drove home happy!

I have no specific game commentary for Saturday's game, as I wasn't listening or watching. I was, however, unable to stay off my BlackBerry during the wedding dinner, which is horribly rude of me, but I WAS VERY STRESSED when I heard Crandall let in the first shot he faced. Not even a minute into the game! But I should have more faith, because Kyle Schmidt got us back into the game and from the second half of the first period onward, tUMD poured it on. They had 41 SOG, but oddly only one PPG. Not to worry. If we score 6 non-PPGs every game, I don't care if we have ANY power play goals! And Crandall stopped the next 17 shots he faced, which was great!

Next weekend I should be fully engaged in the hockey game, listening Friday and attending Saturday.

Numbers
Wins until we reach last season's total: 16 (Ready for next week!)
Points until we reach last season's total: 33 (Also ready for next week!)

My Guys
Jack Connolly: 8!!!!!!!! (OUTSTANDING!)
JT Brown: 6!!!!!!!!! (INSANE!)
Brady Lamb: 4!!!!!!!!!!! (YAY!)
Mike Seidel: 1
Drew Olson: 0

Freshmen
JT Brown: 6!!!!!!!!!!
Justin Faulk: 3!!!!!!!
others: zeros

Connollys
Mikey: 8!
Jacky: 8!

Olsen/Olson
Dylan: 4!
Drew: 0

Dan/Drew
Olson: 8
DeLisle: 0

On Notice
Jake Hendrickson

Goals Only
Dan Delisle
David Grun
Mike Montgomery

3 comments:

vizoroo said...

If J.T. Brown scores, does it mean the Vikings win?

vizoroo said...

Didn't the bride and groom check the calendar before they selected a date? :-}

DC said...

The bride and groom are Gopher fans, so it is understandable they would schedule it during a hockey game.

If JT Brown scores, the whole world wins.