Dog Days

Season tickets? Renewed.
NHL Entry Draft? Observed.
Wild development camp? Attended.

Now what?

I don’t even know. I have taken to watching Canadian Football League games on ESPN3.com, which is a sure sign something is terribly wrong.

I was going to write about projected line charts, but 1. Bruce already did it and I don’t really have anything different to say, and 2. according to Bruce, this idea is copyrighted by Michael Russo. I am not sure that is the case but we’ll just play it safe.

Also, WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?????? I’m so confused. tUMD has 9 freshmen. And the closest any of them come to being Canadian is Willie Corrin, who comes from International Falls. That’s so strange! With whom will I discuss the Hamilton Tiger-Cats? Who will put gravy on their french fries? Who will embody other Canadian idiosyncrasies that I can’t think of at this moment?

tUMD also has 5 sophomores and one red-shirt sophomore (McManus), and one player who is receiving Social Security Benefits and signing up for Colonial Penn Life Insurance and LifeAlert (Danberg.) They’re not quite the Bad News Bears but they’re not exactly Murderer’s Row either. Naturally because those are both baseball teams.

I’m not really worried. There’s enough of a mix of experience and skill on that roster to compete every night. There are plenty of guys on this roster that have something to prove, whether that’s a chance at a free agent contract (provided there is still an NHL), a top line spot, or simply a chance at redemption. Defensively, tUMD is very solid. They have one if not two of the top returning defencemen in the WCHA, and they have a seasoned goaltender returning as well. There are excellent forwards returning and plenty of guys who have shown offensive talent as they’ve progressed in their careers. Naturally scoring in high school or juniors is not a guarantee of success in college, but I’m not going to write off any of the incoming players without giving them a chance. They’re all future Gretzkys and Hulls until they prove otherwise.

We’ve got a long time to wait until October 12th (please oh please add an exhibition game against some ancient Canadian goon squad so we don’t have to wait so long!!!) to see what these guys have got for us, but somehow we’ll make it through. Let’s hope that you are finding a better way to pass the time than 12-man, 110-yard-field football.