Deep Thoughts by Biddco
Thanks to Biddco for rising to the task of guest blogging mere moments after I suggested it, post-game, when most likely intoxicated. -RWD
UNO Trip:
Hello everyone, I’m Biddco, otherwise known as Biddy or @Biddco on Twitter (DO FOLLOW ME!). My buddy @DanJacobsen and I made the trip to UNO this weekend and thought I’d share some observations.
Roadtrip information:
It is 8 hours from Duluth (but all 70 MPH freeway) and 6 hours from the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. It is one of the shorter NCHC road trips (3rd shortest in the conference) and 99% of the drive is sweet sweet interstate.
UNO Plays at the Century Link Center which is too big for UNO and their fans. They are getting a new rink at their campus which seats about 6,500. Plus the renderings of the rink look exactly like Amsoil so UMD fans will know how to get around the rink. Even though it’s too big they do a fine job (with curtains) to make it feel just fine. The fans are a passionate bunch.
UNO fans are the nicest ever. Nebraska football fans pride themselves (who are shockingly ever where) on being the most hospitable fans in football. UNO fans are much the same. Once UMD swept there were some upset UNO fans who were talking trash and being idiots. A UNO fan came over and apologized to us. Apologized for other people he didn’t know! Plus we were invited to get some food with some Red Army fans. They paid for the food, drove us to and from [the game] and were great fun. Plus they are a great section of fans that bang drums during the games and have soccer style chants that provide noise in the arena. Shout out [to] the Red Army, you guys rule. Most dedicated fans in the rink!
Omaha is a big city with 400,000 plus people and has a plethora of dining options. You must get a steak while you’re here. A trip to the Omaha Zoo is a must as well. The zoo is better than all the zoos in Minnesota. We spent a few hours there and didn’t see everything (although many animals were not there because of the winter).
There are plenty of hotels within walking distance of the rink and bars. It makes it very easy for fans to have fun before and after games without worrying about finding a cab or ride.
Lastly, Omaha is not a hockey town. The locals know their hockey but their knowledge is limited. We [heard] multiple people talk about the wrong terms for hockey like “Quarter” or “Match.”
Hockey:
All that needs to be said about this series [is] the play of Aaron Crandall, who played out of his mind. Or as Dirty would say, “He had a horse shoe up his ass,” which is a good thing, I’ve learned. He made eleventy billion saves (actually 93 shots) and he had the help of the inanimate carbon rod (otherwise known as the post and or crossbar). UMD put up 3 goals each night and was able to come up with 6 badly needed points. This was UMD’s first sweep of the year and the first since they swept UAA in December of 2012!
Final thought. It’s funny how much the Red Mavs remind me of the Purple Mavs. Both play in an off campus rink that is too big for their fanbase and that is next to a major river. Each rink sells booze in the rink and the fans are very nice. Each team has uniform combinations that are not the best of their history. Pruprle Mavs need to embrace purple and gold and Red Mavs need to go back to the all red (although I understand how they are marketing themselves as Omaha’s team and not “Nebraska”.) Lastly both teams joined D-I hockey in the late 1990’s and haven’t won an NCAA game yet.
Chim Chim Cheree
tUMD 4, Bruised Cows 2
tUMD 3, Bleeding Cows 1
Two sweeps are as lucky, as lucky can be! When both teams get a sweep we’re in glad company!
I missed the entire women’s game and half of the men’s game, so this will be… as informative as all my posts. But hey, I’m back on track with my posting, right? I’m sure that has nothing to do with winter break, and once school begins again, I’ll be as thorough and timely with blog posting, right? Well, I hope so, but we’ll see. I think I just had a case of good old writer’s block for the first half of the season.
Since I missed the women’s game, I can’t tell you much about what happened. I am really pleased to see a sweep from tDogs. We really need to get back to truly elite status. Screw those Gophers, they have had a nice little run, but tDogs really need to get back to challenging for the league lead and back into the NCAA tournament.
Tonight, the women’s jerseys were auctioned off to benefit breast cancer research. I can’t say I was in love with the design (I don’t think the pink they chose looked very good with the macaroni colored stripes on the sleeves, and even the main maroon color looked a little off), but I hope the Bulldogs’s stellar performance this weekend pushed those prices up!
Jenna McParland played tonight, so her unfortunate collision with the boards last night didn’t result in anything serious. Hooray! Mankato scored first, but Ashleigh Brykaliuk (I spelled that correctly without looking!) got a PPG, then Mankato took the lead again (both goals coming from the talented Nicole Germaine), but Zoe Hickel got her first of two goals, Jamie Kenyon scored (of course!), and then Hickel got an empty netter to seal the deal. Hooray!
So then the men’s game. I did catch the second half of the game, which meant I missed both Herbert’s goal and Basaraba’s first goal. He was nice enough to score another one off a lovely feed from Caleb “Three Point Night” Herbert. Herbert was also penalty-free. Welcome back, Caleb! We’ve missed you so. tUMD scored these three goals on 13 total shots. That’s a better save percentage than the batting average of the starting lineup of the Minnesota Twins last season.
But the real story of the game was once again Aaron Crandall. He made 52 saves. That’s like… a deck of cards worth of saves. I should have called this post 52 pickup. Ok, someone needs to have another 52 save game. Although that is seriously an insane amount of saves to have to make, so I can’t say I want to see that again. I’m sure UAH’s goalies make 52 saves as a matter of routine. On like 65 total shots. Zing! I believe in boxing the term we’d use would be “rope-a-dope?”
While the Bulldogs have earned their first tandem sweeps since December 2011 (thanks Bruce), this marks the first time both teams have gotten six points on a weekend, since the men’s games were worth two while in the WCHA. Such a historic occasion!
tDogs are all at home next weekend, with the men taking on Denver and the women battling tOSU. How about four more wins?
Science Fiction Double Feature
tUMD 3, Purple Cows 1/tUMD 3, Red Cows 2
Any day I can catch two Bulldog hockey games is a great day. Especially a day when I don’t have to work or go to class and it’s not 20 below zero.
I headed down to the women’s game with the two other people who opted to come along. Can you imagine how many people would take me up on the offer of free tickets to a tUMD men’s game? Come on, people. Give tUMD women’s hockey a chance, and you’ll be hooked.
Well, as long as you ignore the first period of the game, which was rather dismal (as if men’s hockey is 100% up and down the ice action). The only goal of the period was scored by Mankato, off a terrible, weird bounce on a dump in. Kayla Black went out to play the puck and it bounced like it was… well, made of rubber, but bouncier rubber. Maybe Flubber. Anyway, it doinked right into the net at exactly the halfway point in the period. tUMD also had to fight off a long 5×3 at the end of the period, but they did, so all was well.
In the second period, tDogs found their groove again. The Purple Cows took a penalty about a minute in, and Zoe Hickel scored on the PP. Tea Villila and Meghan Huertas also had power play goals, and it appeared there was a fourth goal in the period, but the referee signaled “no goal” right away and confirmed it upon review. It never crossed the goal line, I think. I’m not sure though.
There was no scoring in the third period, although tUMD had to weather nearly two minutes of play with the extra attacker on for Mankato. Not two straight minutes of play, as both Mankato and tUMD took time outs, but two minutes nonetheless. Kayla Black was excellent after the weird flukey goal, and the Dogs had two fairly good periods after the dull as dishwater first. Toward the end of the game, Jenna McParland went hard into the boards and was down on the ice for a bit, but skated off on her own power and stayed on the bench, although I do not believe she returned to the game. Fingers crossed she’s ok.
Katerina Marazova played her first game with the Bulldogs today, and had an assist to show for it. She seems like she’ll be able to jump in and really contribute to this team in the second half.
I got back to my house in time to flip on My9 for the second half of the men’s game. Apparently I didn’t miss anything, as it was 0-0 when we tuned in. Thanks for waiting to start the game til after I got settled in on my couch, guys!
It was nice to have the game on TV, although the announcers for the UNO feed were a little bland. I mean, they talked up tUMD like we were the Soviet national team or something, so that was nice, but they didn’t have much enthusiasm or modulation.
After the power play got off to a rocky start, the Dogs got some momentum going and DOMINATO scored the first goal seven seconds after the power play expired. Adam Krause (who is having a fantastic year) added another goal with under a minute to go in the period, which I just love. I love sending the other team into the locker room with that nasty feeling that, if they’d only hung on a little bit longer, they could have prevented it. I am sure Gappy McTooth (who by the way was not with the team due to some NCAA infraction I don’t care about) was not pleased, and I’m sure it caused Jutting to chain-smoke like a mad man.
The commie cows got a power play in the third period and Minnesota Wild draftee Nick Seeler cashed in on the opportunity, which made me a little nervous, but A and Dubs responded a few minutes later with a goal right off a nice face-off win from Tony “Time” Cameranesi. UNO pulled their goaltender early (which leads to suspicion that Gappy McTooth was coaching remotely!) and got one goal back, and I got nervous because I thought they might keep him pulled (because of Gappy), but they didn’t take him out again until under a minute was left. Aaron Crandall made an all-out, no-holds-barred, sprawling, bacon-saving stop on Josh Archibald (cousin of my beloved Evan Schwabe) some time before the goalie was pulled (this sort of thing doesn’t show up on the stat sheet, and I don’t take notes, and I deleted my DVR recording). According to Bruce Ciskie, this was the best game Crandall has played as a Bulldog. It would be great if Aaron was in a groove and could take over the starting goalie spot for the season. (It would be better if he and McNeely could continually push each other to be better, because Aaron’s a senior and if he’s all we’ve got, we’re SOL, but let’s take things one game at a time.)
Two Bulldog wins coming off of two huge recruiting commitments and three big goals from Justin Fontaine means everything’s coming up Milhouse in Bulldog Nation. Two big sweeps tomorrow night would be a beautiful thing. Let’s get it done, folks!
Hats Off To Thee
What is the opposite of jumping the shark? Because that’s what our Fonzi has done this season with the Wild.
Weren’t watching last night? Here’s all you need to know: Justin Fontaine had a hat trick. Nothing else matters. #1 star on Sports Center last night. Huge win for the Wild, who are missing four of their best players.
We’ve of course seen a Fontaine hat trick before. He scored 4 goals against Tech in 2009, on an eventful weekend (read the recap, so many shenanigans behind the scenes). Robb Hunter, voice of the Bonnyville Racist Mascots, Justin’s junior team, informed me Justin also had a hat trick with the Racist Mascots in 2006. But this is the big leagues, and it wasn’t against Michigan Tech (incidentally, a “Tech hat trick” is 9 goals against, because let’s face it, scoring 3 on Tech is nothing.)
This is a big freaking deal for us as Bulldog fans, and for college hockey fans in general. Here’s a guy who got an education, played his full four years of college hockey, became a star on the college scene, and then signed a free agent contract with a team who then proceeded to load up with young talent through the draft… and he still clawed his way into the lineup. So the nation gets reminded of tUMD (or “Minny Duluth”) and our national championship on Sports Center last night. There is no better publicity for recruits than the success of our players in the NHL.
Speaking of recruits, I should have mentioned this the other day, but tUMD picked up a couple of Warroad boys the other day. Kobe Roth (who had 4 goals himself last night, including a shorthanded hat trick) and Jared Bethune. Some pretty legit pickups for the Dogs! I hope you all have other sources for recruiting other than me, because you know that’s not my strong point.
Out Tonight
Proving once again I’m the fairest blogger of them all, I invite all comrades in the RWD Army to join me this Friday night at 6:07 for tUMD’s game against Mankato. And I’m buying again! (Remember I did this back in October!)
Tickets are only $1, so even if you don’t feel comfortable associating with me (or do not want to be referred to as a comrade), you won’t have to take a huge bite out of your budget. But if you’re like Monty Burns and would be happier with the dollar, I’m here for you! Got it? I’LL BUY YOU A TICKET TO FRIDAY’S GAME! Email me (runwiththedogs at hotmail), tweet at me (@runwiththedogs), somehow get in touch with me and I’ll buy you a ticket!
Seriously, what other blogger offers to buy people tickets to games? None, that’s right. Who loves ya, baby? Now don’t be ridiculous, take me up on this offer and come out for some great hockey!
Hail the Conquering Heroes
Bulldog Nation 7, USA 0
Today, President Obama addressed the nation regarding the crushing defeat the United States suffered yesterday evening. Here is the text of that speech, taken directly from the Teleprompter.
“Today is a sad day in the history of this great country. On the heels of our defeat at the hands of the Russians on the battlefields of Malmo, our American troops have suffered a catastrophic loss to the army of the Bulldog Nation.
Our brave young men in uniform invaded Bulldog nation at about 1:07 Zulu, and while they fought valiantly and held their own for a time, but by the time the two hour campaign was concluded, the Bulldog Nation troops overwhelmed them in a 7-0 loss. The US was overwhelmed by the onslaught of the bigger, faster, more skilled Bulldogs, with their more accurate and more lethal weaponry, led by the turncoat Osterberg. Our team had no choice but to surrender.
Our conquered troops have retreated to the south, and Bulldog Nation continues to grow in strength and remains a significant threat to national security, one for which our troops on the ice currently have no answer. We will turn to diplomacy and to appeasement to keep the Bulldog threat at bay.
I would like to thank the brave young American hockey players who chose to undertake this dangerous mission, knowing they faced almost certain defeat.”
Nice game last night, fellas! Other than that whole boring as heck first period, we had our three goalies combine for a shut out, seven different players notching goals, thirteen players with a point or more, and four with a multi-point game. I mean, granted, many of the opposing players are still waiting for their voices to change, and probably peed themselves at the sight of Adam Krause, but sometimes those pesky kiddos can squeak out a win.
I do have a little bit of concern for the state of the US’s goaltending situation, since a few of tUMD’s goals were pretty bad breakdowns by Weyrick (the goalie who played the bulk of the game), but I hope he was simply off his game and when faced with competitors his own age, he is more successful.
tUMD women are back at AMSOIL next weekend and the men are at the little rink on the prairie in Omaha.
To Russia With Love
Comrades, if you managed to stay awake during that dull-as-dirt outdoor hockey game, or just used the interwebs after you woke up from your nap, you know that our very own Justin Faulk will once again throw on the red, white, and blue as part of the 2014 Men’s Olympic team. Justin has already represented the US on the national stage at the U18 (gold) and U20 (bronze) levels, as well as the World Championships in 2012.
Photo: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
God, that jersey. It’s just the worst. I hope whoever designed it is deported.
Canada hasn’t announced their men’s roster yet but I don’t anticipate any Bulldog men getting named to the team. I would assume Dylan Olsen will be in the mix for the next Olympics.
Former tUMD assistant coach Julie Chu will be representing the US women in Sochi as well. Coach Chu helped guide tUMD to our 4th national championship, and has two silver medals and a bronze in the last 3 Olympics.
Bulldogs of whom we are proud, because they are Bulldogs, but at the same time don’t wish too much luck: Caroline Ouellette, Haley Irwin, and Jocelyne Larocque for Team Canada; Tea Villila for Team Finland; and Kim Martin and Pernilla Winberg for Team Sweden, I think, although I haven’t found their roster. I will update you if I hear of any other Bulldogs making rosters, including Alexandra Vafina and Iya Gavrilova for Russia. Professor Google isn’t very helpful at the moment.
We’ve only got 36 days to go until the opening ceremonies of the best Olympics! Curling, hockey, biathlon, Nordic skiing, all the fun sports!
WJC Mania!
Folks, if you are starving for Bulldog hockey, we’ve still got another 8 days before the men take on the kiddos, and even longer before the women take on the purple cows. In the meantime, you can check out the World Junior Championship, this year in Malmo, Sweden. The USA is the reigning champion and has already won its first game, 5-1, against the Czech Republic.
You can watch games on the NHL network, and you can watch some games on NHL.com, but not all, so if you’re a WJC loony like me, you’ll want to get the NHL network zapped into your TV tout suite.
Here’s the schedule for the USA:
28 Dec vs. Slovakia (6:30 a.m. Central)
29 Dec vs. Germany (8:00 a.m. Central)
31 Dec vs. Canada (10:30 a.m. Central) ***DO NOT MISS THIS GAME. IT’S ALWAYS EPIC***
The quarterfinals will be on 2 Jan, the semis on 4 Jan, and we’ll be defending our gold medal on 5 Jan at noon central.
There are no Bulldogs on the team, but plenty of NCHC foes, and the team is coached by Hedgey the Hog and Bob Motzko, who I assume tried to recruit some Austrians for the team. Let’s see if tDon and tBob have another “back2back” moment in them.
Instead of Sheep
RWD infinity, Everyone Else also infinity
Yes, once upon a time I used to write these nice creepy Photoshoppy Christmas posts, but now I don’t have Photoshop on my computer and I also spilled au jus on my computer so I don’t have a computer and am using a netbook.
Now, instead, you get me wishing you the best of days, every day, because if you read RWD, you certainly deserve them. It’s not as funny and doesn’t require anywhere near the work the Christmas posts of yore do, but it’ll have to do.
Merry World Junior Championships Eve Eve, everyone!
Top Shelf to Food Shelf, Year One
Ok, I realize the ship has sailed for recapping the games from last weekend. But come on, it’s finals week. I spent too much time on campus too early AND too late, and drank too much coffee. I did still manage to get to both hockey games, which is more than I can say for, like, half of the arena and 75% of the student section. So we looked really lame and pathetic on national television on Saturday night.
But, Top Shelf To Food Shelf went on as planned! I’ve always known RWD readers/Twitter followers were the absolute creme de la creme of the interwebs, and of course I was proven right once again. The generosity of people I know increased my own donation tenfold! I ended up donating $59, but our total donation was $508 $513 $543, 10 cans of soup, and one jar of peanut butter in honor of Kevin Gorg! (This is not actually 10x, but I increased my own donation a little bit to top up at $500, so I ended up donating a little more than I’d planned, and then a few more donations came in after so we ended up over $500 anyway!) In some ways, it still feels small when compared to the number of people in our communities who need help meeting basic needs, but our donation will still make a direct impact in our own communities.
Thanks to all the Bulldog men and women, enemy players, and Pee-Wees who scored and/or made saves to help raise money! My dad also won Joe Basaraba’s jersey on Saturday night so we got to go say hello to him and I made a doofus of myself. Still the same old RWD. Just now even older.
We are totally doing this next year, although I plan to move it a weekend earlier since there were a lot of teams not playing. I look forward to seeing how much more we can raise now that this is an established and legit fundraiser!
edited on 12/23 to reflect Biddco’s additional $5 donation!
edited again on 12/23 as Jon rounded up from $70 to $100!
And, though I am sure you have nothing but complete faith in me, here is my proof of donation:
Runnin' With the Dogs 
