Silent Spring

Huh, how about that? Nearly a month has gone by since our lives were made complete.

Let's wrap up a few things.

First, College Hockey Armageddon appears to have passed us by. Scary Princeton Coach is going to go to Nouveau Riche University instead of our coach, who somehow still does not have a contract. Dear Bob, get it done or I am not sending you ANY MONIES. Michigan Tech has a new coach, too. Some Michigan person. Clearly he's trading up by going to the WCHA.

RWD awards for the season:

My Guy of the year is Jack Connolly, for the second year in a row.

Freshman of the year is JT Brown, though Justin Faulk was breathing down his neck.

Jacky is also the Connolly Champion, though with Mike gone he will not be able to defend his title.

Drew Olson wins the penalty title over Dan DeLisle, which was uninteresting as neither took a boatload of penalties.

Seniors Trent Palm, Kyle Schmidt, Mike Montgomery, Chad Huttel and Justin Fontaine leave us. Thank you for your fierce and unwavering commitment to the program, for making it better than when you arrived, and for giving us your very best no matter what was asked of you. Palm played on one leg. Schmidt had hand surgery days before scoring the game winning goal against Michigan. Montgomery and Fontaine gave up pro opportunities to return to school. Huttel stuck with the program despite limited playing time.

Thanks to your families as well; all five of you have families who were vocal and visible in their support for you and for the program. I didn't go to a single road game without seeing at least one Palm, Schmidt, Montgomery, Huttel or Fontaine in the crowd. Sometimes even wearing a gorilla suit or a blonde wig, making candy for fellow fans, or buying beers for rowdy road-trippers.

I'm contemplating a site re-design but haven't seen anything I liked yet. Don't worry, it won't become busy or overloaded with ads or scripts that crash your browsers, it will still be as spartan as ever. At the very least I will be doing a new banner for the off-season.

Posting will be sporadic throughout the summer, as always. I might have some other stuff to say about the season, and of course there's the All-Hottie team, and I'm trying to get tickets to the draft. I'll tweet if I update and try to keep you informed of any exciting and fun news going on in the world of Bulldog hockey.

Thanks again for reading, for your comments and your emails and tweets. Thank you for the sense of community you all provide, as Bulldog fans or as hockey fans in general. In the seven seasons I've been writing this site, I've never once wanted to shut the site down; it is always fun and the connections I've made as a result of writing are priceless. What you folks say makes me laugh, makes me think and humbles me. Victories are sweeter and losses are easier to bear when we celebrate and suffer together.

The Game That Was

tUMD 3, Ugly Helmets 2

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;

If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with triumph and disaster

And treat those two imposters just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,

And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breath a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

Rudyard Kipling

Saturday started as a day like any other day. I fell asleep watching Miracle, as I had done before the Union game, the Yale game and the Notre Dame game. The sky was gray but it was warm out, and for a moment as I got out of bed it seemed no different from a normal weekend morning.

Then I remembered that tUMD was playing for a national championship in just a few hours and it was like being hit by a bus. The impact of the realization was so powerful it was almost physically jolting.

And so I did what any smart hockey fan would do: I laced up my skates and played hockey for two hours. Every year a cabal of USCHO posters organizes a hockey game at the Frozen Four. It's supposed to be just for fun, a good time and a way for people who hurl insults at each other in the anonymity of the internet to face up to their behaviours. (This is no problem for me because I am truly a horrible person.)

For me it was two blissful hours where I didn't have to quiver in fear at the implications of the upcoming game. Two hours where I was the one playing and attempting to make things happen on the ice. I mostly failed at making anything happen, but here is a picture of me looking awesome.

As you can tell, I (second from the left) am getting burned by Yager (far left) for the 700th time. But that's ok because in the rest of the pictures I'm standing around like a fatty. You can tell it's me because of the horrible bright yellow ponytail. Also something quite strange happened in the locker room afterward but you'll have to ask me about that on your own time.

It was fantastic to focus solely on the game at hand and just to step out on the ice and skate and have a good time. I left feeling a Zenlike equanimity I hadn't had since the season started.

Of course, once we were in the car heading to the Xcel, the PANIC! PANIC! PANIC! alarm was going off inside my head. It was like 7 fire alarms, 3 tornado sirens, the horrible monthly test of the emergency broadcasting system noise and an air raid siren ALL AT ONCE. Plus a panic attack, brain aneurysm, freefall from 10,000 feet and ADHD. Oh my.

We sat at McGovern's for awhile, everyone but me acting totally normal and watching golf. Why, I don't know, because who freaking cares? It's not even interesting. Eric Stromgren from the Bemidji Pioneer stopped by to say hello. Randomly he happens to be friends with this person who bought a bee jersey last year and was standing in line with me when we were buying them.

FINALLY I convinced everyone to go over to the UMD event at the River Center. We sat there for awhile until I couldn't stand it anymore and ditched the rest of my group to go to my seat (which is good because they didn't arrive until puck drop, and the also stole a UMD flag from somewhere) and I sat there alone until Dirty showed up.

When Michigan scored, it was like Thursday all over again, and I thought I was going to vomit. Rather than vomiting, Travis Oleksuk scored a goal. Michigan started taking all these penalties and then Max Tardy banged home his own rebound and made a believer out of me. Then something weird happened and My Jacky was lying on the ice and the puck was in the net behind Kenny and I thought "Oh my god we're not going to win" even though it was tied. My gal Britt came up during the intermission and helped me pass the time without having a nervous breakdown.

In the 3rd period Michigan was given a power play for... running into Brady Lamb (who had an assist on all three goals, FYI), I guess. I mean, really, whatever. Then JT Brown made an incredible play to bring the puck up the ice for a shorthanded scoring chance and Merrill had no choice but to haul him down and we were at fours. JT drew about 3 penalties and could have drawn a few more. It was so funny to watch him frustrate Michigan. Well, it's funny now that I can relax and breathe.

When the game went to overtime I wanted to... I don't even know. I felt like I was going to pass out. I walked around the arena and found Biddco and we just sort of panicked together. I talked to a Sioux fan friend of mine and I also saw the Maroon Loon blogger who claims that I said "Don't worry, we'll be celebrating soon," as he walked away from me. That's so unlike me. I'm more likely to say "Don't worry, we'll be committing mass suicide soon."

I walked back to my seat in a daze, and to be honest I probably should have stayed in my seat. I felt like I was going to faint. Then I heard the crowd start to roar just as I rounded one of the pillars in the corner and I went RUNNING for the nearest stairway just in time to see Mike Connolly with a great scoring chance.

The only reason I can tell you how the winning goal went is because I've seen it so many times in replay. All I know is the puck was in the net and my brother practically pile-drived (pile-drove?) me and I was screaming and crying and the Aaaahj was screaming "We're #1! We're #1!" and I fell over on to the seats and someone kicked my soda and it spilled everywhere and I called Schmidt's mom and screamed nonsensically into her voicemail and I don't even know.

I am amazed that for nothing more than the price of admission I could feel so amazing. But it's not the price of that ticket. It's years, and dozens of admissions, and hundreds of miles and thousands of words. All for something that, for someone who doesn't get it, seems so meaningless and insignificant. And if I think too hard about what it means to be a sports fan, it is completely ridiculous and I'm totally overly obsessive and I don't really care. If I cared what other people thought I wouldn't be writing RWD, ya know.

And really, what else in life can give a person the high highs without the low lows. I could never feel the way about a sports team that I do about, like, a death. But yet I was screaming "THIS IS THE GREATEST MOMENT OF MY LIFE!" as we celebrated, high atop the upper deck, the ultimate victory after fifty years of almosts, could have beens and not a prayers.

I feel like in a way the window of opportunity for writing this post has probably gone. I should have written it Saturday night, if I was really dedicated, but I chose to go out and party like a puck star with my friends. We watched the game again at Tom Reid's and cheered the game all over again and sang the Beer Song and sang Don't Stop Believin' even though I'm still having a hard time believing that the Bulldogs are National Champions. I could have written it a dozen times this week but I had to get it just right and now I think the moment and the feeling have slipped through my fingers.

But it really happened, and no one can take that feeling away from us. To see the first national championship by my team? I don't think there are many Gopher fans, or Michigan fans, or UND fans who can say that. But when I'm 800 million years old (next year) I can tell all the young Bulldog fans in the student section what it was like to watch Kyle Schmidt do snow angels on the ice and see the players come flying off the bench and watch the fans, young and old, absolutely lose their minds as tUMD won the national championship, in overtime, in our home state.

Thanks for the memories.

No Joke

tUMD 4, Racist Mascots 3

There's nothing funny about winning.

Over the years I have had some horrible losses to write about. I mean, including this year. I try to spin the losses with humour, which is the entire foundation of this site, but with losses that makes sense. One needs a good laugh to dull the pain.

With winning, one doesn't need to be entertained, as one's already going OUT OF THEIR FREAKIN' MIND WITH JOY AND EXCITEMENT!

Which, by the way, I am, and I know you are all as well.

We arrived at the GPL tailgate just after 12 to a much smaller crowd than was at the Final Five, but that's expected. Still, it was great that the die-hards were there, no one does a tailgate like the GPL crew.

I missed the red carpet arrival because I was HOPING to get some food before heading over. I met up with my buddy and former UW blogger Badger Backer and made his friend and him come with me, then felt like a total tool when we missed it. Blah.

Honestly, I kind of wanted to die when tUMD gave up a goal 49 seconds in. It was just... so horrifying and sad and I thought it was the beginning of the end. JT Brown thought otherwise and found the back of the net so decisively that the puck bounced back out again. Something called TJ Tynan scored to get the Leprechauns another pot of gold, and I was ready to puke, and Kyle Schmidt was all "I have a bionic hand!" and we were at deuces. MCON scored another PPG and then the first period was over. You know, for some teams that's an entire game worth of scoring.

Not so for the Bulldogs, who were DOMINANT in the second period. Jack Connolly and his beard got a lovely power play goal (they were 3 for 6 on the PP, which is a Union-like stat, except we did it against a good team, not Army) and weathered some QUESTIONABLE penalties and QUESTIONABLE NON-CALLS ON INTERFERENCE and headed into the 3rd period with a two-goal lead.

The Leprechauns got a short handed goal by borrowing a player from their women's team named "Calle Ridderwall." tUMD was in the offensive zone battling for the puck along the endboards and totally jacked it up. WIN BATTLES WHEN YOU HAVE MORE PLAYERS. WHOA. The Leps took the puck all the way to the other and and into the Bulldog net, and then fear took over and I was unable feel any sort of confidence or hope we were going to hold the lead.

tUMD weathered a penalty for "Leprechaun dropping his stick" as well as 1:08 of extra attacking scariness and as the clock wound down the final seconds I was on my feet, knees shaking, and I nearly blacked out from the sheer panic and excitement and disbelief.

THE UMD BULLDOGS ARE GOING TO PLAY FOR A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP.

Blog in the Time of Cholera

Ok, no, I don't have cholera. I'm just suffering from some horrible crud that has left me out of commission since Sunday. Yes, Sunday, and I know today is Thursday. Blah. This weekend is going to be exhausting.

The one upside is I have watched most of the state tournament, with the exception of the Edina/Blaine game, because I was still sleeping. Absolutely awesome game for the Greyhounds today, plus Hermantown and Hibbing advanced. My brackets aren't completely shot to heck, but both of my consolation winners have advanced, so blah.

tUMD racked up quite a few All-WCHA honors. Jack Connolly and Mike Connolly were both named to the first team, Justin Fontaine to the second team, Justin Faulk was both a third team and a rookie team selection, and JT Brown was a rookie team choice. [Edit: the WCHA's website had JT Brown on the 3rd team and finally corrected it.] Wade Bergman, Jack Connolly, Aaron Crandall, Dan DeLisle, Keegan Flaherty, Justin Fontaine, David Grun, Chad Huttel, Kenny Reiter and Kyle Schmidt all made the academic team! Great showing guys!!

So we've got a playoff series against the toothless hicks. Great. So glad to see them so soon after they clobbered us 8-2. Remember the whole "advocating suicide" post? Yeah. But now... now tUMD players are blonde. (And dear god, I got a sneak preview photo, and it is NOT PRETTY.) Blondes have more fun. Speaking as someone who has had every hair colour under the sun, I can confirm that. So guys, have FUN this weekend. BY WINNING. LOSING IS NOT FUN. Even if you may go out and enjoy yourselves afterward just the same while your fans go home and tear their hair out. Kenny Reiter! Making saves is fun! Both the easy ones and the crazy ones! Defence (meaning both defencemen and forwards in our zone)! Throwing hits is fun! Do it! Especially when players are trying to go to the net! Stop them! Forwards! And offensive defencemen! Scoring goals is fun! Try it a lot! Often! Constantly!

Damn, coaching is easy.

All-WCHA Ballot

It's that time of year again! The All-Conference ballots are being released. Might as well release mine.

First Team
F: Jack Connolly
F: Mike Connolly
F: Justin Fontaine
D: Justin Faulk
D: Mike Montgomery
G: Kenny Reiter

Second Team
F: Travis Oleksuk
F: JT Brown
F: Kyle Schmidt
D: Brady Lamb
D: Drew Olson
G: Aaron Crandall

Third Team
F: Mike Seidel
F: David Grun
F: Dan DeLisle
D: Wade Bergman
D: Trent Palm
G: Christian Gaffy

Rookies
F: JT Brown
F: Max Tardy
F: Joe Basaraba
D: Justin Faulk
D: Luke McManus
G: Christian Gaffy

Coach of the Year: Scott Sandelin
Player of the Year: Mike Connolly
Rookie of the Year: Justin Faulk

The Tygers

For any team other than DU, CC week is one of the most boring weeks of the season. Let us just read some poetry instead.

Tyger, Tyger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears
And water'd heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger, Tyger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

-William Blake

That's a lovely poem. I was inspired to write some more.

Haiku
Goal! Connolly from
Connolly and Fontaine. And
the Bulldogs win it!

Limerick
There once was a player named Brown
Who liked to shut opponents down
On goalies he'd score
Check others into the boards
And make all of them look like a clown.

Elegy
The Golden Gopher once stood for glory
Its players were proud and brave
And now the players who wrote that story
Have all gone into the grave.

Couplet
Brett Hextall found his hair and hat
Jared Allen could have told him that.

Acrostic
For every shot he lets fly on
An
Unlucky goaltender, we Bulldog fans see how
Lucky we would be to
Keep him for another year.

Cinquain
Hockey
Fast, crazy
Skating, shooting, scoring
We need a win
Bulldogs

Sonnet
Bulldog hockey ebbs and flows
Its rabid fanbase shrinks and grows
We yell we scream we chant we cheer
We razz we boo we taunt we jeer
We think about what might have been
Had not we choked when in Boston
Had Fonz not been ruled in the crease
Had Kosti been tethered with a leash
We go to games when it's minus-twenty
Dear players, we have suffered plenty
Don't you think this year's the one
To go the distance on a playoff run
What's not important is the manner
In which you go and get that banner!

Agitating

tUMD 6, Mankato East High School JV Squad 2

You know what I love?

Winning.

You know what makes winning even sweeter?

Irritating opposing fans.

Last night's game started in typical (of late) Bulldog fashion. Eriah (horrible name) Hayes scored on a delayed penalty just over two minutes into the game. Weak. Mike Seidel made up for his penalty with a goal later in the period and we managed to get out of the first period even steven. Chad Huttel took a tripping penalty for a hip check that apparently the cave-dwellers in Mankato thought was kneeing.

Now for the irritation.

Mankato Coach Troy Jutting is known for three things: coaching goons, chain smoking, and whining constantly to the referees. And of course he started in his ref whining. And since I was within earshot of Jutting, I decided he needed a taste of his own medicine. And also to remind him that he needs to have a smoke. And people didn't like it! This horrible old hag behind me was just so offended. "You just don't go after a coach," she whined. "I always had a good impression of Duluth fans until now." Well, lady, I've never had a good impression of your fans, so you only cemented my opinion. I laughed at her passive-aggressive comments to her seatmates. I'd be embarrassed if Sandelin behaved the way Jutting did, not defensive of it.

At the end of the period Jutting decided to bend the ears of the referees again and we decided to remind the refs that they don't have to listen. And the Mankato fans didn't like that either. Hey, have a little respect for your Zamboni drivers. They need to get the ice re-surfaced.

In the second period tUMD took the lead on a JT Brown goal and then had a completely disastrous turnover to allow Mankato to tie it up. Guys, come on. Enough of that crap. PROTECT THE PUCK!!! HOLY CRAP!!!

Mike Seidel got his 2nd goal of the game (yeah for Team Coug!!!) on a power play just before it expired, which is always great. It's demoralizing for the killing team. And Trent Palm had an assist! Always great to see. Justin Faulk put the puck in the net on the next power play but it was waved off due to goaltender interference. Some Mankato fans decided to call tUMD cheaters, but failed to remark that, as they were on the penalty kill, they were also cheaters. MCON scored a legit goal on the next PP and then the period ended.

And the refs didn't even talk to Jutting! They just skated off while Jutting waited, shaking his head. Hilarious. Best decision they made all night!

In the 3rd, JT Brown scored another goal, making two players with two goals in the game, and then Justin Fontaine laid the hammer down. By that point, pretty much all the Mankato fans around me had left, which was so unfortunate! I wanted them to witness my glee! Although they witnessed plenty of glee from the SIX!!! SIX!!!!! SIX! goals we scored, so there's that. Also, to further solidify my high opinion of the people behind me, apparently while it is not ok to rib a coach, it is ok to mock a player for getting checked from behind into the boards (which should have been a five minute major, but the refs were just bizarre all weekend.)

The game could have been much closer, as Mankato fanned on two WIDE FREAKING OPEN NETS and Crandall was NOT on his game. Dear Sandelin, NO MORE GOALIE ROTATION.

Today is Hockey Day in America so I'm chilling watching the Wild followed by the Canadiens. Yay!

Superstitions

tUMD 1, Moocows 3



Apparently I'm into YouTube postings.

Why. Why must this happen!? Why am I forced to write posts openly advocating suicide as a viable alternative to watching or listening to another second of passionless, poorly executed Bulldog hockey?

It's totally my fault! Here's why.

1. Last weekend I didn't wear a jersey for EITHER game. And today I didn't put on a jersey til we were down 2-0! If I'd been wearing the jersey it would have been... tied.

2. I bought Frozen Four tickets and tDogs totally tanked almost directly after that happened.

I'm sorry. I'm totally sorry. I'm working on it. See below.



The Wild won and Tech won so all was not lost. And tomorrow I'm going to Mankato and will probably hang myself if we lose.

Have a good night!

P.S. JT Brown, stick to scoring goals. This other crap isn't helping, and it isn't Bulldog hockey.

Another BREC in the Wall

tUMD 1, Those Still Yet to Win in Their New Arena 1

So, we made the drive up to Bemidji to see what we could see. And what do you think we saw? We saw the other side.

No, not really, I was getting us confused with the bear that went over the mountain. We saw a tie. And even though UMD got that power play goal late in the game, I knew that lead wouldn't hold. Granted, it was hard to get things going. This is my first time seeing Bemidji State play live and they did not play a style I expected them to play. These guys stomped on the Bulldogs last year and this year were struggling to find offense. It took someone named Bilbo Baggins or something almost the entire game to find the net. Most of the game seemed to be focused around stopping the Bulldogs rather than beating them.

Bemidji's goalie made some great saves including one on JT Brown in OT that I thought was a for sure game winner. Kenny did not make any brilliant saves that I noticed. Much of UMD's puck luck this weekend came from Bemidji players being a day late and a dollar short on rebounds. I am not sure Bemidji players knew they could play in the slot or camp out in front of the net. tUMD's defence played an outstanding game.

tUMD should have scored on the 5 on 3. Here's the deal with that play: once tUMD got the delayed penalty, a Bemidji player made an even worse hit on another Bulldog as if daring the refs to make the call. They did. Yay.

Overall the BREC is nice but lacks atmosphere. The students do not have a leader. They do even fewer cheers than UMD fans. And their mascot is named Bucky but looks like an ethnic Goldy. Get it a leather tail or something. Most students were in costume and there were some really funny ones, like a Rubik's Cube or Wooderson from Dazed and Confused.

Alcohol is for sale at the BREC. Unfortunately this led to some obnoxiousness. I'm sure it comes as no surprise that the biggest jerk of the night was a guy in a Sioux jersey who went down behind the Bulldog bench and started swearing at them and pounding on the glass, then tried to get by me to get out of the row. I told him to wait for a whistle and blocked his way. He took umbrage, swore at me, then climbed over a bunch of other seats and spent the rest of the time he was there swearing at me some more. Two students came up during the break between the 3rd period and overtime and screamed and swore at the UMD team and at Suz for almost the entire break before an usher came and led them, very slowly, away. I like to be a big jerk too but I am now sober while I do it. A Bemidji player grabbed JT Brown's facemask and it popped open, and no call was made. So Phil Loadholt can't do that to a Packer but Bemidji can get away with it? So I yelled "I know they haven't won yet but you don't have to give them the game." I'm mean.

I still had a great time despite the outcome. And now I'm chillin' in paradise at the Bjorneby homestead on Lake Bemidji.

Numbers
Wins until we reach last season's total: 13! (Ugly wins count the same!)
Points until we reach last season's total: 27! (Sweet!)

My Guys
Jack Connolly: 12!
JT Brown: 11
Brady Lamb: 4
Mike Seidel: 2
Drew Olson: 0

Freshmen
JT Brown: 11
Justin Faulk: 5!!! (Off notice!!! Tragically unable to see his goal as it was at the other end of the rink and they did not replay it!!!)
others: zeros

Connollys
Mikey: 13!
Jacky: 12!

Olsen/Olson
Dylan: 6
Drew: 0

Dan/Drew
Olson: 8
DeLisle: 2

On Notice
Wade Bergman
David Grun
Jake Hendrickson
Brady Lamb
Mike Montgomery
Max Tardy

Goals Only
Jack Connolly (WHAT??? JACKY, GET IT TOGETHER!!!)
Keegan Flaherty
Dylan Olsen
Mike Seidel

Highway 2 Robbery

First, some facts.

1. Today is my birthday. (Well, it's almost over.) I am 28. I have one foot in the grave already.

2. Friday is my "birthday game." Saturday is my backup "birthday game." And Wade Bergman needs to get me a goal.

3. Travis Oleksuk was named offensive player of the week. Last week, JT Brown was rookie of the week. This week, Aaron Crandall or Kenny Reiter will be defensive player of the week.

4. UMD is ranked #3 in the polls right now. Pretty much guarantees we'll be swept by Suckmidji this weekend.

And now...

Anyone know how much the tickets are for this weekend?

The cheapest are $25 and they go all the way up to $35. Kids' tickets are $20. No wonder there are still tickets available for the second series in their brand new arena...

Rookie Cards

tUMD 3, Werewolves 2 (OT)

Hello. What a game that was. Definitely not your typical UAA/UMD game. You know, one of those games where whoever's failure is less epic wins. Instead it was, from what I am led to believe by Ciskie and Pates, a game with exciting saves and plays and blocked shots. The last 7 or 8 minutes were just INSANE. The last two minutes of regulation nearly killed me.

And then overtime redeemed me. Oh JT Brown, you are amazing.






















Too soon? Well,



















Better?

(Thanks to comrade Dave H. for the inspiration.)

Numbers
Wins until we reach last season's total: 15!
Points until we reach last season's total: 31!

My Guys
Jack Connolly: 9!! (Probably will be 12 or 13 tomorrow!)
JT Brown: 7!!!!!!!!! (OTGWG!!!!!!!)
Brady Lamb: 4
Mike Seidel: 1
Drew Olson: 0

Freshmen
JT Brown: 7!!!!!!!!!!
Justin Faulk: 3
others: zeros

Connollys
Mikey: 10!!!!! (2 goals!!!)
Jacky: 9!

Olsen/Olson
Dylan: 4
Drew: 0

Dan/Drew
Olson: 8
DeLisle: 0

On Notice
Dan DeLisle
Keegan Flaherty
Jake Hendrickson
Mike Seidel
Max Tardy

Goals Only
David Grun
Mike Montgomery

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

Postcards from RWD, Vol 12

Dear Bulldogs,

If you are going to suck, let me know right away please. Give me a sign. Say, getting swept by Providence this weekend. Don't be confused, I don't want that to happen, but I don't need any of the 2004-05 soul-sucking heart-breaking sucker-punching gut-wrenching undefeated through three weekends then completely throw it away with only 3 more wins in the first half and allow a 14-goal differential in the playoffs. No, that was hardly the worst season we've ever lived through as a fanbase, in fact we had even fewer wins in subsequent seasons, but we all knew that was coming.

I'm in a sports-related depression right now. The Twins? They managed to keep roping me in with their clutch hits and winning streaks and Thome homeruns and such. Then they clinched the division and became the suckiest bunch of sucks who ever sucked. The buzz, pre-season, about the Vikings, perpetuated by one Bruce Ciskie, was they would win the division. They have one win. They got Randy Moss, and I became hopeful again, and then let me down AGAIN Monday night. (Dirty said "And with that nice stop it's time to send in the clowns." And then there was clownery.) The Wild have the opportunity to suck in three countries this year, a rare opportunity, and they are seizing the day. But I appreciate their upfront terribleness, because now I have low expectations.

The Bulldogs are the one bright spot for me right now, and I don't know if they are even a bright spot. Certainly a 1-0-1 weekend is not rotten, and three years ago I would have been pleased, but now we have expectations and talent and a new arena and Hobey candidates.

Here are my bare minimum expectations for a non-sucky season:

1. Home ice for the WCHA first round play-offs.
Just home ice, I feel, is lenient. Like I said, these are bare minimum expectations.

2. A Final Five appearance.
The Final Five, in its new, annoying, format, gives each team only one guaranteed game. Annoying. Under the old format, three teams's fans had two guaranteed games and two teams's fans had one guaranteed game. Now six teams's fans have one guaranteed game. That sucks, especially for people coming from out of town. A fan from Denver, Grand Forks, etc. could take two days off from work and reserve a hotel room for three nights only to find their team loses on Thursday. The Final Five is still a heck of a time, but that would certainly suck some of the fun out of it. This has turned into a rant about the new Final Five, but unlike in years past, when we simply hoped for a top three berth to guarantee two games, now the seeding barely matters, except for #1 and #2 getting a bye. (A bye is nice, no doubt, but one could argue that #1, #2 and #3 got a bye under the old system.) Just get there.

3. An NCAA regional bid.
Anything can happen in the playoffs, as we've seen from Holy Cross, RIT, Buttmidji, etc. Just get to the playoffs and we'll worry about winning later. Winning would make for an AWESOME season and we're worried about non-suckiness only.

4. At least 1 player on the Hobey Baker top ten list.
It doesn't really matter who it is. Perhaps Fontaine this year and then Jack Connolly next year, as I've mentioned before. Perhaps Jack could put Mike on his shoulders and they could wear a large overcoat and try to pass as one person. Perhaps JT Brown will outscore Paul Kariya and win as a freshman.

5. WIN THE FREAKING ARENA OPENER.
DUH. MOST IMPORTANT.

Okay, now don't lose this weekend... AND don't suck!

XXOO,
RWD

Superior Showcase, We Hardly Knew Ye

tUMD 3, Mildcats 2

Well, folks, there we go. The Superior Showcase has come to an end. And Michigan Tech is the winner. Up is down! Black is white! St. Cloud lost to Clarkson! All of our goals were scored by defencemen!

MEg and Biddco came over for a little listening party. MEg listened to Michigan Tech's game through headphones while we broadcast tUMD game through the speakers of our desktop computer. The internets worked almost the entire time, for once! Domino's pizza is really tasty.

I'm pleased to see the first win of the season, and I hope I'm witnessing another one in FIVE DAYS. FIVE DAYS UNTIL I'M IN DULUTH, AGAIN, FINALLY, AT tDECC, IN MY SEATS, WATCHING A BULLDOG HOCKEY GAME. Yes.

I hope this time both the offense AND the defence are playing at full strength. And, our freshmen kick all kinds of ass.

Numbers
Wins until we reach last season's total: 16 (x)
Points until we reach last season's total: 33 (x)

My Guys
Jack Connolly: 2
JT Brown: 1!!!!!!!!!
Brady Lamb: 1!!!!!!!!!
Mike Seidel: 1
Drew Olson: 0

Freshmen
Justin Faulk: 2!!!!!!!
JT Brown: 1!!!!!!
others: bupkis

Connollys
Mikey: 3
Jacky: 2

Olsen/Olson
Dylan: 3!!!!
Drew: 0

Dan/Drew
Olson: 4
DeLisle: 0

On Notice/Goals Only
Nobody (only 2 more game to get your scoring on!)

My Guys!

So we only have 8 days until hockey begins! Isn't that amazing?!

Actually, it's not. Everyone else gets to play some ancient Canadian senior league team. We do not. Annoying.

But I've gotta pick my guys! They need to be prepared for next week!

Back for more:
1. Jack Connolly
2. Mike Seidel
3. Brady Lamb

Everyone gets renewed! Yeah!

And we've got some new guys!
4. Drew Olson
5. JT Brown

I think I've decided to throw my "no freshmen" rule out the window. Obviously. Since I've picked a freshman Guy three years in a row.

All right, Guys, you've got your assignments, now go out and kick some butts!

666

This is my 666th post on RWD. It's so metal. I'd like to dedicate this post to the late Earl Root.

So, the insiders voted in their respective polls recently (the 94X WCHA Media Poll, conducted by the man who will be hiring me to do colour commentary this fall, Bruce Ciskie; and the Grand Forks Herald Coaches’ Poll, conducted by the always delightful Brad Schlossman), and I have to say that these folks need to read RWD. Then they would know of my clairvoyance and all make the same picks as I did.

Here are the media poll results:

1. North Dakota (28) 347
2. Minnesota Duluth 300
3. St. Cloud State (1) 295
4. Denver 242
5. Wisconsin 218
6. Minnesota 203
7. Colorado College 182
8. Bemidji State 156
9. Nebraska-Omaha 125
10. Minnesota State 97
11. Alaska-Anchorage 51
12. Michigan Tech 46

Preseason WCHA Player of the Year
Chay Genoway, UND (10)
Garrett Roe, SCSU (5)
Justin Fontaine, tUMD (4)
Jack Connolly, tUMD (3)
Jason Gregoire, UND (2)
Mike Connolly, tUMD (1)
Matt Read, BSU (1)
Evan Trupp, UND (1)

This is like Sesame Street. One of these players is not like the other. 8 people cast excellent votes. Fascinating there are no Gophers, Badgers or Pioneers represented. That’s the state of hockey, folks.

Preseason WCHA Rookie of the Year
Jaden Schwartz, CC (10)
Derek Forbort, UND (6)
Beau Bennett, DU (4)
Nick Bjugstad, Minnesota (2)
Tyler Barnes, Wisconsin (1)
J.T. Brown, Minnesota Duluth (1)
Rob Gunderson, Alaska-Anchorage (1)
Radoslav Illo, Bemidji State (1)
Jason Zucker, Denver (1)

I don’t know who Rob Gunderson is. Chuck from 60MNANR Googled him for me last night. Rob Gunderson for Hobey!

I can’t quibble with the near-omission of tUMD players (fortunately there’s another J.T. Brown groupie out there) because there isn’t an incoming freshman from the Bulldogs projected to have a significant impact on the game. tUMD is an upperclassman’s team; so is St. Cloud, and though they allegedly have some notable recruits (doubtful), those players didn’t receive any votes either. The three players most likely to have an impact on their teams immediately are Jaden Schwartz, Beau Bennett, and Nick Bjugstad: players whose teams don’t have any guys on player of the year list. Teams like UND, St. Cloud and tUMD have their top lines filled with seasoned veterans and their freshmen, talented as they may be, won’t see the ice time that their counterparts on other teams will.

Here is the esteemed panel of judges:

BSU
Brian Schultz, KKBJ (hehehe)
Eric Stromgren, Bemidji Pioneer

CC:
Ken Landau, KRXP
Joe Paisley, Colorado Springs Gazette

DU:
Mike Chambers, Denver Post
Jay Stickney, KXDP

MSUM:
Shane Frederick, Mankato Free Press
Mike Sullivan, KTOE

MTU:
Dirk Hembroff, WKMJ
Brandon Veale, Daily Mining Gazette

SCSU:
Mick Hatten, St. Cloud Times
Don Lyons, KNSI

UAA:
Kurt Haider, KENI
Doyle Woody, Anchorage Daily News

UMD:
Bruce Ciskie, KZIO
Kevin Pates, Duluth News Tribune

UMTC:
Roman Augustovitz, Minneapolis Star Tribune

UND:
Tim Hennessy, KQHT
Brad Schlossman, Grand Forks Herald

UNO:
Dave Ahlers, KKAR
Chad Purcell, Omaha World Herald

UW:
Andy Baggot, Wisconsin State Journal
Brian Posick, WIBA/WTSO

Officially Unaffiliated Though Possibly Unofficially Affiliated:
Chris Dilks, Western College Hockey
John Gilbert, WCHA.com
Todd Milewski, USCHO
Dan Myers, College Hockey News
Jess Myers, INCH
Theresa Spisak, USCHO

And then the coaches voted, too. From what I understand and then mathematically proved, coaches cannot vote for their own teams, and rank the others from first through eleventh. So, obviously one St. Cloud vote is from Hakstol, and one UND vote is from Motzko. That doesn’t explain why the coaches weren’t smart enough to pick the eventual winner, tUMD.

1. UND (10) 120
2. St. Cloud State (2) 105
3. Minnesota-Duluth 100
4. Denver 88
5. Minnesota 82
6. Colorado College 67
7. Wisconsin 64
8. Nebraska-Omaha 55
9. Bemidji State 46
10. MSU-Mankato 41
11. Alaska-Anchorage 19
12. Michigan Tech 15

Player of the year:
Jack Connolly, tUMD (5)
Chay Genoway, UND (4)
Garrett Roe, SCSU (3)

Fortunately, the most votes for player of the year went to the correct person, although it should have been unanimous.

The voting for rookie of the year is so obvious I can identify who voted for whom.

Rookie of the year:
Jaden Schwartz, Colorado College (9) (Hakstol, Motzko, Sandelin, Gwozdecky, Owens, Serratore, Jutting, Shyiak, Russell)
Nick Bjugstad, Minnesota (1) (Lucia)
Tyler Barnes, Wisconsin (1) (Eaves)
Matt White, Omaha (1) (Blais)

Picture Perfect

Blah almost forgot to post.

Last night I had a dream about AMSoil Arena! But not a good one! I had seats in the front row of the balcony, but 1. they were really up high 2. every time I cheered I almost slipped through the railing and 3. the seats were really bad as they were looking down on the rink through a large square hole, so some action was obscured. Also no one was there, no one was cheering, and tUMD was playing like crap. Argh.

Anyway, tUMD's roster pics are out, and guys, you have outdone yourselves. Best collective roster pics of ANY tUMD team since I have been judging appearances. No one looks crazy! People who had bad hair have better hair now! If only Jacky had grown his hair out again, then everything would be perfect. (And DON'T THINK I DIDN'T NOTICE guys wearing the same suit... seniors, come on.) Bergman wins best dressed. Kenny Reiter and J.T. Brown were unable to keep a straight face. Wonder what was going on in the background, hm?

And... holy crap. Montgomery cut his hair.

Rostermania

Not a great title. But an exciting day! Now we know what's what and who's who and where's where and who's on first.

Goalie
#30 Christian Gaffy (fr)
#31 Aaron Crandall (fr-rs)
#35 Kenny Reiter (jr)

Defence
#2 Brady Lamb (jr)
#4 Dylan Olsen (so)
#5 Trent Palm (sr-rs)
#6 Scott Kishel (jr)
#8 Drew Olson (so)
#21 Luke McManus (fr)
#24 Mike Montgomery (sr-C)
#25 Justin Faulk (fr)
#26 Chad Huttel (sr)
#28 Wade Bergman (so)

Forward
#7 Kyle Schmidt (sr)
#10 Dan DeLisle (so)
#11 Travis Oleksuk (jr)
#12 Jack Connolly (jr-A)
#14 Keegan Flaherty (so)
#15 Jake Hendrickson (so)
#17 Mike Seidel (so)
#18 Joe Basaraba (fr)
#19 Max Tardy (fr)
#20 Cody Danberg (sr)
#22 Mike Connolly (jr-A)
#23 J.T. Brown (fr)
#27 David Grun (jr)
#37 Justin Fontaine (sr)

Comments:
1. Stafne is not on the roster. I'll discuss this later.
2. Trent Palm IS on the roster. Welcome back, Trent!
3. Travis Oleksuk has worn 3 numbers in 3 years. #13, #21 and now #11.
4. Kyle Schmidt is #7. Why switch now?
5. Before Faulk, Ryan Geris was the last Bulldog to wear #25.
6. Max Tardy takes over #19 from fellow Duluth native Rob Bordson. Let's hope he can develop as well as (or more quickly than, even!) Bordo, too!
7. JT Brown might have to exorcise some demons from #23.
8. This is the first post labeled seventh season! Wow!

Vote Early and Vote Often

Fun stuff! Back without any demand: polls!

Second-Guessing

So, things have changed.

Brady Hjelle has left tUMD to go back to juniors. Chris Stafne has been dismissed from the team due to allegedly assaulting his girlfriend. I'll probably post a bit more about both incidents (or not, I am lazy), but I'm going to take another crack at lines and pairings. You can see the first attempt here.

Centre
Jack Connolly (Jr)
Travis Oleksuk (Jr)
Danny DeLisle (So)
Max Tardy (Fr)

Left Wing
Mike Connolly (Jr)
Kyle Schmidt (Sr)
Cody Danberg (Sr)
Jake Hendrickson (So)

Right Wing
Justin Fontaine (Sr)
David Grun (Jr)
Mike Seidel (So)
Keegan Flaherty (So)
Joe Basaraba (Fr)
J.T. Brown (Fr)

Left Defence
Dylan Olsen (So)
Scott Kishel (Jr)
Wade Bergman (So)
Drew Olson (So)
Trent Palm (rs-Sr)
Luke McManus (Fr)

Right Defence
Brady Lamb (Jr)
Mike Montgomery (Sr)
Chad Huttel (Sr)
Chase Ryan (rs-Sr)
Justin Faulk (Fr)

Goalie
Kenny Reiter (Jr)
Aaron Crandall (So)

I still want to move Flaherty to centre. The glut of right-wingers still requires a move. Centres are Jack Connolly, Travis Oleksuk, Danny DeLisle, Keegan Flaherty and Max Tardy. Left wingers are Mike Connolly, Kyle Schmidt, Cody Danberg and Jake Hendrickson. Right wingers are Justin Fontaine, David Grun, Mike Seidel, Joe Basaraba and J.T. Brown.

What sort of sucks now is that there is not a full practice line for the 5th liners. I wonder if a defenceman could play up? Although unless that's going to happen in games there's no reason for it to happen in practice. I wonder if anyone would be amenable to reverse-Montgomerying?

Defensive changes are the same as I previously made. Left defencemen are Dylan Olsen, Scott Kishel, Wade Bergman, Drew Olson and Luke McManus. Right defencemen are Brady Lamb, Mike Montgomery, Chad Huttel, Trent Palm and Justin Faulk.

Goalies are Kenny Reiter and Aaron Crandall. No word on a new goalie. Stay healthy, guys!

Lines? Lines. ((c) Bruce Ciskie)

Top line: Mike Connolly – Jack Connolly – Justin Fontaine
Nothing has caused me to change this.

Second line: Kyle Schmidt – Travis Oleksuk – Mike Seidel
I'm still fighting with this idea. I know it's probably my own bias, but I'm keeping this line here. There's no doubt about Smitty and Ole, but Seidel... I don't know how long he'll stay in this spot. HOWEVER, Sandy likes to make guys pay their dues, so I'm keeping this line together.

Third line: Cody Danberg – Danny DeLisle – David Grun
Gonna keep Murderer's Row intact, certainly.

Fourth line: Jake Hendrickson – Flaherty – J.T. Brown
Yes, I am keeping J.T. in over third-rounder Basaraba. J.T. is almost two years older than Joe, and he has experience playing against older players (at first, I mean, this past year he was one of the older players), and Joe has played at a high level, but against other people his age and younger.

Et al: Tardy, Basaraba

Top defensive pairing: Dylan Olsen – Mike Montgomery

Second pairing: Wade Bergman – Brady Lamb

Third pairing: Scott Kishel – Justin Faulk

Fourth pairing: Drew Olson – Chad Huttel

Fifth pairing: Luke McManus – Trent Palm

I kind of want to make some changes here, but I don't see where. Unless some guys switch from L to R, then there's no one I can move up. And I really really really want to move Faulk up.

Starting goalie: Kenny Reiter

Backup: Aaron Crandall

Ok, so it looks like I didn't change anything. But, whatever. I probably won't make another list unless something changes, but I think next I'll try to take a stab at special teams.