A Dish Served Frozen

tUMD 5, UNO 4/tUMD 6, UNO 0

So this weekend has shown us one thing: the Blais-Sandelin relationship has officially gone from Mr. Miyagi/Daniel Larusso to Ra’s al Ghul/Batman. Sorry, Gappy McTooth, it might be time to hang it up.

I am, as I frequently am this season, of two minds about these past few weeks. They are unequivocally great, I am thrilled, I don’t care who the opponent is or how thin the thread is holding those teams together, two sweeps in a row is fantastic. You can’t ask for much more out of a regular season home game than a 6-0 win capping off a sweep of a conference opponent who had their way with us when last we met, on senior night, on a night honoring Kevin Pates.

The question is, was this team capable of winning like this a few months ago? Or were those losses and the subsequent lessons learned necessary to get the team to this point? tUMD is really only a few wins away from a respectable season, considering the personnel we’ve lost over the past 2 years, and there are definitely losses the Dogs have snatched from the jaws of victory. Denver, Wisconsin, UND, Tech, Ferris State, Buttmidji: there’s 6 games where tUMD held leads, sometimes commanding leads, and let the game slip away. If tUMD just wins those games, tDogs are 20-13-3 instead of 14-17-5.

This has been a frustrating season, for sure. Losing sure is frustrating when one gets used to winning, and when a team has the talent to win. There’s absolutely no reason why tUMD can’t go into Madison and get a second helping of revenge on those stinkin’ Badgers and claw their way to the last Final Five they’ll have a chance to make.

We’ll get to Kevin Pates’s retirement in a post of its own, but for now, I’ll just say: Pates told me he’s ready to cover as many games as the Bulldogs can give him, so let’s keep the momentum. I know those seniors don’t want to take off their Bulldog jerseys for the last time, so let’s hang around and make as many teams miserable as possible.

And p.s., guys, we’ve got another national championship coming in the next few years. Those Hermantown boys are going to come here and get redemption for the state championships STA stole from them!