A Very Special Episode
Another year, another upcoming season, another influx of exciting young prospects. But comrades, there’s Something We Need To Talk About before the season gets underway in a little over a month.
Things are very different for our young Bulldogs these days. They face more challenges as players and as representatives of their schools than players did even a few years ago, and so we are forced to discuss this very sensitive and explosive topic.
Twitter.
Yes, Twitter, the micro-blogging platform to where all those meaningless, attention-whoring Facebook statuses have migrated. Many tUMD athletes, fans, alumni and staff are on Twitter (as am I! But I am warning you, it is RWD uncensored. Yes, that’s right. I tweet words I would never blog [And yes I know this is a terrible You Tube clip].) Twitter is neat in a lot of ways. It has allowed me to connect with more readers, it also allows me to comment on games live and give sporadic score updates, and even to interact with players (on a limited scale, as I am a creepy creeper).
Twitter comes with a lot of problems, however.
1. Twitter is unfiltered.
Underage players tweet about drinking. Players who have reached the age of majority use slurs, racial or otherwise. Most guys use discretion and speak vaguely about drinking, avoid posting pictures of themselves or their teammates with alcohol, and don’t use offensive words. (Note that I don’t consider regular swearing actually offensive.) However, if even a few do, it reflects poorly on both the player and the team/institution they represent. This ties in to the second problem, which is…
2. Twitter lets people tweet, sometimes directly to players, all those rage-filled tirades that used to be drowned out by crowd noise or shouted at our televisions.
This doesn’t happen so much on the college level, although sometimes it does. My advice to anyone who receives such tweets is, laugh it off. Ignore it. Respond neutrally, if you must, with a little “Thanks, buddy!” or something like that. Don’t get anyone else involved. The other day I witnessed a Twins player whining about the haters, re-tweeting what the haters were saying, and then responding to the haters in such a way everyone could see (I’m not going to bother explaining this further for non-tweeters, because it’s sort of a long and boring discussion.) This a. gives morons attention, b. escalates the situation either by inviting additional comments from the original person, or by involving additional parties and c. alienates fans who don’t want to see players stooping to that level and/or clogging their feeds with stupid morons. So, fans, don’t be stupid, and players, ignore the stupid people.
3. Speaking of stupid people, STOP RE-TWEETING PEOPLE WHO ARE BEGGING FOR A RE-TWEET and STOP BEGGING FOR A RE-TWEET.
This is literally the lowest form of interaction between a player and a fan. First of all, it is not a real interaction at all. All a player does is hit a button and then everyone else sees this dumb person’s tweet, which could range from “CAN I GET A RETWEET FOR YOUR BIGGEST FAN EVER IN THE WHOLE WILD WORLD!!!!12!11ones!!!! ZOMG!!!” to one fan who, I swear to you, asked “Can I get a re-tweet for my uncle who committed suicide, he was a big Twins fan!” People also ask for re-tweets for various charity cases without offering any sort of solution. I am not sure that re-tweets cure cancer/multiple sclerosis/29 stab wounds in the back. It is also lazy on the part of the player. I successfully convinced a Vikings player (I won’t name names but he did kick a Packer in the groin last year) that a better way to interact with fans asking for retweets would be a reply to the fan individually, because it is personal and it also doesn’t clog up the Twitter feeds of the other 99.9999999999% of the person’s followers.
Hm, I broke form there a little bit, probably because that last one really grinds my gears.
Most schools and teams have social media policies in place (sadly, policies that do not include a punitive ban on re-tweets, yet), but they should probably just consider printing out this blog post and posting it in the locker room. I assume tUMD already does that with every blog I write, but just in case, it’s what I advise.
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.
Reunited and It Feels So Good
Hello everyone. All four of you or whatever who are still reading even though I am lame. Thank you, btw.
So last night I went to the Wild prospects game. It was fun. The end.
No, no, I have more to say. First, you can read my reviews from previous years. Here. And here. Also I got interviewed once when I made a genius prediction.
So yes. The only Bulldog there was Fontaine, but that was ok. Zucker was there, and Son of Mikko, and Coyle, and Phillips, and others. Fontaine was on a line with Zucker and Granlund, which is a pretty nice compliment for Fonz. He made some nice passes that I saw, and looked like he fit really well with those two. I mean, Granlund and Zucker are no Jack and Mike Connolly, but they’ll do in a pinch. Also there were a lot of things I didn’t see because I have the attention span of an amoeba.
There were three downsides to the evening. One was that Team White managed to come back from a 3 goal deficit, scoring the game-tying goal with the extra attacker while Fonz, Granlund and Zucker were out there. It was like watching a UMD game. Ugh. Also, for the creeper/autograph line, they split up the players into four groups, so I didn’t get to see them all.
The worst part of the night, by far, was the concessions. I was very hungry, and decided to have some ice cream. My dad always gets malt cups at tUMD games so I thought oh, hey, I’ll get a malt cup. Then I opened the malt cup and it looked like this:
Who would eat this?? This is not the color, texture or consistency of a malt cup. This is an ABOMINATION in a cup. All American Cup, my badonkadonk. More like All Wisconsonian Cup, if it’s lucky. I don’t even know if that’s a word. I don’t care. I asked an old man who was working as an usher if he thought it was an acceptable malt cup and he said no. I had to exchange it for a Dilly Bar. Blah.
So I had to choose between seeing Zucker, seeing Son of Mikko, or seeing Fonz. I chose to see Fonz, and I definitely chose wisely. This is what happened to everyone who got in the Son of Mikko line:
Anyway, after an annoying amount of line-waiting (live-Tweeted by me!), I got up to Fontaine. Here is a transcript:
Me: Hi Justin, how are you?
Justin (signing): Good, thanks for coming [or something].
Me: Did you have a good time playing with your linemates? [1. This is not a direct quote. 2. Stop it.]
Justin: Yeah, they’re pretty good.
Me: Well… we miss you at UMD!
Justin (realizing I’m that crazy person who talked about my hair falling out during the 2011 championship rally): SECURITY!
The end.
We Love Dick
Photo courtesy of Chris and Nicole Anderson
The Duluth hockey community lost one of its legends today. Dick Stewart, youth hockey supporter, sporting goods purveyor, and UMD hockey fan extraordinaire, passed away today. He was 92, and his wife had just passed away last week.
I can’t think of anyone more synonymous with the hockey in Duluth than Mr. Stewart. From the little kids running around in red and black Stewart’s hats to the band playing “Roll Out the Barrel” while Dick waved his signature UMD windsock, he was everywhere. Biddco and I gave him a Peanut Butter Hjelle Time t-shirt, and he got an enormous kick out of getting a t-shirt from a person dressed as a banana. UMD fans practically tore the roof off the DECC singing “Happy Birthday” to him when he turned 90. Knowing that Dick Stewart lived to see UMD win its first national championship made it even sweeter for me and for many fans.
We should all be so lucky, to live 92 wonderful years, to have family and friends and a community we love and who love us in return. I will miss you, Mr. Stewart, and I will never forget you.
A Day in the Life
I heard the news today, oh boy
About a lucky man who made the grade
And though the news was rather sad
Well, I just had to laugh
I saw the photograph
So, two years of JT Brown is all we get, as he signed a pro contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Considering Stevie Y was in the hizzay this year and Tom Kurvers is a former Bulldog, this is not a shock. (I was betting on him going to Philly, though.)
So two years is all we get out of JT. We all knew this was coming, but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t suck. Thank you for two years of incredibly exciting hockey, JT. Go kill it in the show.
JT’s linemate, Travis Oleksuk, also signed a pro contract yesterday with the San Jose Sharks. Let’s hope that his teammates do not decide to injure him out of jealousy like they did to MCON. Caleb Herbert, the third man on the line, is a draft pick of the Washington Capitals. That’s pretty fancy for our humble little team, don’t ya think?
Best of luck to both gentlemen, and ahem, NHL, try not to have a lockout, mkay?
Hard Times Come Again No More
Very few college hockey players win their final game in uniform. The nature of the college hockey playoff format makes it difficult to do. It’s part of what makes the sport so heartbreaking.
Last year, Mike Montgomery, Mike Connolly, Justin Faulk, Justin Fontaine, Chad Huttel, Trent Palm and Kyle Schmidt did it. There was nothing I wanted more than for Brady Lamb, Jack Connolly, Scott Kishel, Cody Danberg (?), Travis Oleksuk, David Grun and Kenny Reiter to do the same.
Winning seasons, Final Five appearances, and NCAA appearances used to be a once in awhile occurrence for the Bulldogs. The future looks bright for this team, and that makes this loss easier to bear than ones in the past.
This helps, too:
Yellow Journalism
Well, folks. Today’s the day. tUMD goes up against Maine, with or without their only scorer.
I assume that tomorrow morning, we will be at war with Spain.
The Game That Wasn’t
If the Bulldogs fall in double overtime, and I’m not there to see it, does it really happen?
Yes, yes. I am a terrible person and only made it to one Final Five game. (Thursday afternoon.) I don’t like it any more than you do. There is only one more Final Five left, and tUMD had better make it, and you had better believe that I will be taking those days off. And probably sobbing uncontrollably once the championship game is over.
When the conferences realign, it will, for the most part, be business as usual. tUMD will still have nearly the same opponents it does now. I will still attend as many games as I can, try to road trip (technically all games except the UMTC games are road trips for me) when I can, and occasionally see conference games on television.
Nothing will ever, ever replace the Final Five, however. It is a huge loss for me as a fan. And anyone who has attended a Final Five or two will say the same thing. I have been attending the Final Five since Northern Michigan was still playing in it. It is like attending a family reunion. Of course, my “real” family does attend, but so do dozens of people I truly enjoy, some who I see all the time and some who I only see a few times a year, always at the Final Five. It seems overly maudlin to be so focused on the end of the Final Five when we still have one more to go, but who knows? It could be tUMD’s last. It could be any of the teams’ last. And the ones who didn’t make it this year may not make it next year. This year’s hilariously epic Gopher-UND confrontation could be the last. UNO could go for their whole short stint in the WCHA without making the tournament (which would be sad for their fanbase. However, if they match up against tUMD in the first round, they’ll just have to stay home.) Next year, if the players in the WCHA have any sense of historical perspective, every first round game is going to be a knock-down, drag-out Battle Royale.
There were so many seasons of RWD where tDogs were on the golf course at this point in the season. (And this year would be an excellent year for golfing!) It is ridiculously cool that three out of the last four seasons (2011-12 inclusive), tUMD has still been playing. They are the only men’s D-1 ice hockey team in Minnesota who can say that. tUMD will travel to Woohstahhhh, Mass. to play Maine (where Jack Connolly will make Spencer Abbott look like a peewee, if Abbott can come back from injury), and then the winner of BC and AF. Two wins to get to Tampa. And then two wins in Tampa. #TampaTwo, if you’re nasty. And on Twitter.
There is absolutely no reason why tUMD can’t beat Maine and BC or Air Force. There is no reason why tUMD can’t beat ANY team in this tournament. They just need to 1. score goals and 2. play defence. The only question is, how do they top Kyle Schmidt’s snow angels?
Award Season
Ok, we don’t need to talk about last weekend. St. Cloud is just a black hole of suck and unfortunately, tUMD gets pulled in time and time again. This weekend they’re back home for the playoffs with some mohawks. I’ll try to get a rundown of all the mohawk pics I can find.
But the WCHA awards happened! And good things happened for Bulldog players! Let’s go to the tape:
The official awards
Player of the Year: Jack Connolly
Defensive Player of the Year: Justin Schultz, UW
Rookie of the Year: Joey LaLeggia, DU
Outstanding Student-Athlete of the Year: Brad Eidsness, UND
Coach of the Year: Mel Pearson, MTU
Scoring Champion: Jack Connolly
WCHA Goaltending Champion: Kent Patterson, UMTC
First Team
F: Jack Connolly
F: JT Brown
F: Nick Bjugstad, UMTC
D: Justin Schultz, UW
D: Joey LaLeggia, DU
G: Kent Patterson, UMTC
Second Team
F: Jaden Schwartz, CC
F: Drew Shore, DU
F: Jason Zucker, DU
D: Gabe Guentzel, CC
D: Nate Schmidt, UMTC
G: Kenny Reiter
Third Team
F: Travis Oleksuk
F: Brock Nelson, UND
F: Mark Zengerle, UW
D: Nick Jensen, SCSU
D: Ben Blood, UND
G: Josh Thorimbert, CC
Freshman Team:
F: Kyle Rau, UMTC
F: Jean-Paul Lafontaine, MSUM
F: Jayson Megna, UNO
D: Joey LaLeggia, DU
D: Andrew Prochno, SCSU
G: Juho Olkinuora, DU
Academic Team:
Jack Connolly* (Communication)
Aaron Crandall* (Marketing)
Keegan Flaherty* (Finance)
David Grun* (Finance)
Jake Hendrickson (Mechanical Engineering)
Luke McManus (Business)
Kenny Reiter* (Finance)
*indicates repeat offender
The unofficial awards
Thanks to Chad from A Tradition of Excellence for his work on organizing and tallying the ballots. Please click over there to see the participants. He notes there are 3 defencemen on the first team because Blood and LaLeggia tied. If my vote differed, I have put it in parentheses.
Player of the Year: Jack Connolly
Defensive Player of the Year: Justin Schultz, UW
Rookie of the Year: Joey LaLeggia, UW
Coach of the Year: Mel Pearson, MTU (Scott Sandelin)
First Team
F: Jack Connolly
F: JT Brown
F: Brock Nelson, UND (Mark Zengerle)
D: Justin Schultz, UW
D: Joey LaLeggia, DU (I had him 2nd team)
D: Ben Blood, UND
G: Kent Patterson, UMTC
Second Team
F: Jason Zucker, DU
F: Drew Shore, DU (Travis Oleksuk)
F: Nick Bjugstad, UMTC (Jaden Schwartz)
D: Nate Schmidt, UMTC (Nick Jensen)
G: Josh Thorimbert, CC (Kenny Reiter)
Third Team
F: Jaden Schwartz, CC (Nick Bjugstad)
F: Mark Zengerle, UW (Drew Shore)
F: Travis Oleksuk (Brock Nelson)
D: Nick Jensen, SCSU (Nate Schmidt)
D: Brady Lamb
G: Kenny Reiter (Josh Thorimbert)
All-WCHA Rookie Team
F: Kyle Rau, UMTC
F: Caleb Herbert
F: Jean-Paul LaFontaine, MSUM (Blake Pietila, MTU)
D: Joey LaLeggia, DU
D: Andrew Prochno, SCSU
G: Juho Olkinuora, DU (Ryan Faragher, SCSU)
Lots of honors for our dear Bulldogs! I’m especially proud of the academic honorees!
Seven of Nine
tUMD 4, Puddytats 3 (OT)
tUMD 5, Puddytats 2
Hello everyone! Are we all hunkered down for yet another SNOWMAGEDDON!!!!!!!21212414231“1`??? Actually, it is snowing outside right now (well, it was when I started this, it isn’t anymore) and I am probably going to be very annoyed on my drive home (maybe not), but for now all is well. I forgot to bring something to read for my break between classes (yes, I am back in school, no, this isn’t in pursuit of the same degree I was before, I already graduated, that’s enough about my non-hockey life) and so, ugh, I’m stuck blogging.
Okay, it’s really not that bad. And I really should have posted sooner about this weekend, as I should have posted about last weekend and the weekend before, since I got all “wake me when it’s over” and took a break from blogging when I wasn’t even really blogging in the first place lately. But hey, I’ve been doing this for eight years and if I couldn’t step away and pick it back up when I chose to, then I’d probably have shut it down for good. AND THAT WOULD BE A TRAGEDY.
So we learned on Friday that jumping out to 3 goal leads is not a good idea. That seems whackadoodle, of course, but we already knew that jumping out to 4 goal leads was also not a good idea. Ask anyone if they’d rather have a nice cushion or a tight game and they’d be “CUSHION!!!” all the way, but I guess not tUMD. Friday wasn’t a bad game, though. JT Brown returned, and if anyone wondered if he would be at 100%, let’s hope that with his 9 SOG and OTGWG, that he wasn’t at 100% and the best is yet to come. Oh, and Scott Hartnell of the Flyers just happened to tweet about JT. (Which is more good publicity for college hockey than Paul Kelly managed to do in his entire tenure with College Hockey, Inc, I might add.) The power play woke up. BOTH units, I should add, woke up. Max Tardy had two points, which I can only hope leads to better days ahead for him and continued success for the team.
Saturday we learned that four years is not enough time with this senior class. (Excepting Danberg and Reiter, who we got for five years.) (Oh, and two years is not enough time with JT Brown, but what can we do about it?) Almost every senior had a point on Saturday night (and the others were VERY close to scoring), and Mike Seidel must have read the criticism on the boards about him because he went out and scored the first two goals of the game and made a few bids for a third. The Dogs played one of their best games in a long time, and I was glad to be there to witness it.
Before we talk about our seniors, remember that there could have been two more members of this senior class. Brady Hjelle left the team to return to junior hockey and is now backing up Cal Heeter at Ohio State. Mike Connolly signed a professional contract after the Frozen Four and was recently traded from the San Jose Sharks system to the Colorado Avalanche system. Two players who left for two totally different reasons and have had two totally different careers since leaving the Dogs, but nonetheless two players who started at tUMD with the rest of the senior class (excepting Danberg and Reiter, again, but do I have to keep saying that?)
And now we talk about the seniors.
Jack Connolly
His freshmen year, Jack came in as the predicted WCHA Rookie of the Year, with Carol Brady hair, and instantly became my favorite. So, first of all, thanks Jack for not taking out a restraining order against me, despite this, and this, or this, or this. Hmm… put all together, yeah I’m a little crazy. Or just INSPIRED to CREATIVITY by one of the best players in Bulldog history. Multitudes of WCHA weekly and yearly honors, 3-time All-American*, 2012 Hobey Baker Award Winner*, and 9 points away from reaching 200 points in his college career. This year, Jack came in with the weight of the hockey world on his shoulders, as everyone (other than me) wondered how he would fare without his prolific linemates, Mike Connolly and Justin Fontaine Connolly. As no surprise, he rose to the occasion. I hope tUMD chooses to retire #12. Jack is a one-in-a-googolplex player, and I can’t believe his time at tUMD is coming to a close.
*citation needed
Cody Danberg
tUMD fans have, as a result of his injuries, gotten a chance to get to know Cody a little bit better than most players as Bruce has had him on the air a few times. So it’s really hard not to like a guy who is willing to put up with Bruce’s corny jokes for hours at a time with few breaks in sight. Oh, and a guy who gives us a player’s perspective on the officiating and the flow of the game and all that, too. I am sad to see him in a suit, night after night, even though he looks quite nice in it, because I know he could be out on the ice 1. murdering people and 2. scoring the craziest, dirtiest goals you’ll ever see. Cody has 8 career goals at tUMD and I don’t think a single one of them is pretty, but he also had two goals in one game as a freshman, where he scored the OTGWG against Mankato to complete an unlikely comeback against Mankato. Technically Cody could come back again and play next year, but I haven’t heard any rumours that he plans to. He would be more than welcome… or he could begin his career in sports broadcasting!
David Grun
I like Grun because he wears #27. I don’t think I need any more reason than that, but there are a lot more reasons to like him. First of all, he’s like a wrecking ball. He can knock anyone into the upper bowl if he chooses to. He seems totally fearless and he is always the guy there to stick up for his teammates. He’s very Drew Akins-esque. He is also more than capable of scoring and he is a huge part of what has made tUMD such a good team. There’s no sitting back against a line with David Grun on it, whether he’s on the top line or the fourth line, and his versatility has given tUMD the depth it needs for success.
Scott Kishel
While tUMD fans were wringing their hands wondering what would happen to our blue line this season, Scott Kishel was working his badonkadonk off, ready to step back in to the lineup and shoulder whatever burden was sent his way. Last year he played seven games. This year, he’s only missed three, and he’s in key situations for the team. I think he’s even gotten faster as the year has progressed. Or if not that, his positioning has improved. Scott’s success this year is a testament to his hard work and patience. The team’s got a lot of defencemen this year, and a different guy might have looked at the depth at the position, looked at himself as a senior vs. the others as underclassmen, and defeated himself before he even tried. I salute you, Scott, for what you have done for the team, and for yourself, this year. Parents, if you’ve got a youth hockey player (or any sport!) in a tough situation this year, tell ’em Kishel’s story.
Brady Lamb
Brady has been a favorite of mine since he was a freshman and he was the first player I ever met. (I have a well-documented fear of meeting players. And I also have proven, time and time again, that this fear is justified since I turn into a complete moron and say crazy stuff in their presences.) I actually met another player at the same time as him but that person and I didn’t have a very good interaction. I did have a great chat with Brady and that was that, now he’s one of My Guys. He has a slap shot that would probably kill most people and is certainly painful for anyone who dares to step in front of it. His accuracy with that wicked slappah seems to be improving, too. He’s brutally punishing in his checks, too. Last year he assisted on every goal in the national championship game. We owe him a lot for that alone, and for sticking with the team even though he may have had some other opportunities come up along the way.
Travis Oleksuk
Absolutely 100% scary good. If you’re a fan of college hockey and don’t know who Travis Oleksuk is, you should probably just forfeit your life, because you’re a fraud. That seems a little harsh, but Oleksuk is so talented, and so clutch, that I’m not really overreacting. Travis’s dad Bill had a great career at tUMD, and if that wasn’t enough, we got his son, too. His freshman year, he hardly played at all… then he got into the lineup and the team went on a roll. He is our best face-off guy, he has speed, hands, strength, everything. Except Barry Melrose can’t pronounce his name. (“OH-leh-suk” is what the Mullet said.) tUMD will, in all likelihood, have three guys hit the 50 point mark again, and Oleksuk is one of them.
Kenny Reiter
So, if you were to jump in your WABAC Machine and tell 2007 RWD that tUMD would win a national championship, never in a million years would she guess that Kenny Reiter would be in goal to win it. I doubt 2007 Kenny Reiter would have guessed it, either. But with a little puck luck, some fortuitous circumstances, and nerves of lonsdaleite, he got there. And he’s going to get us there again this year, it pretty clear. Regular Season Kenny is great, but Playoffs Kenny is out of this world. Kenny won Fan Favorite this year, prompted my friend Erik to make up a catchy cheer, and he is a candidate for Bulldog sainthood. We can already attribute several miracles to him, non?
Thanks seniors. You are the best of the best, and I am so very very proud to cheer you on.
Runnin' With the Dogs 
