>Sneaky!
>
No one bothered to give me the memo that Justin May isn’t the strength and conditioning coach for hockey anymore. I had to find out when I was messing around on the website and happened to see that there was a blank picture and this guy Blake Palmer’s name underneath it.
Let me copy word-for-word what tUMD’s website says about Mr. Palmer:
Making his debut with the UMD hockey program this fall is strength and conditioning coach Blake Palmer, who spent the past three years handling that same role with the United States Hockey League’s Waterloo Blackhawks.
While working in Waterloo (where he also served for two seasons as the team’s equipment manager), Palmer helped over 50 athletes realized their dream of playing NCAA I hockey and nine get selected in the National Hockey League draft. He also spent two years as a strength & conditioning coach for the XL Sports Acceleration Program while also working with the Blackhawks. While working here he had the opportunity to train current San Jose Shark Joe Pavelski. Before and during his first season with the Blackhawks he was also a graduate assistant strength and conditioning coach with the Division-I University of Northern Iowa. As a graduate assistant he worked with extensively with Women’s Softball and Men’s & Women’s Track & Field with the men’s program being a perennial top ten program. While also spending time with Men’s & Women’s Basketball and Football. While working as a graduate assistant he had the opportunity to train and coach with one of the world’s foremost Olympic weightlifting minds and former Chinese Olympic Weightlifter Jianping Ma who has coached three world record holders in Olympic weightlifting.
Palmer, a native of Northwood, Iowa, earned his bachelor’s degree in exercise science from the University of Northern Iowa in 2006 in exercise science and completed his coursework for his Master’s Degree in Exercise Physiology in 2008.
Palmer is originally from Northwood, Iowa, In his spare time he enjoys traveling, biking, the outdoors, and Olympic Weightlifting. He resides in Superior, Wis. with his dog Maverick.
Well then, welcome, I guess, although I WOULD HAVE LIKED AN INFORMATIVE ARTICLE ABOUT THIS.
Another problem: I noticed that not only does Mr. Palmer not have a photo, but neither does Brett Larson. I do NOT like to be deprived of photos of Le Larson!!!
>You Don’t Need a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind Blows
>
Those days are over.
I use the Google Images search engine a lot to try to find random photos of Bulldog players other than their roster pix to use in various ways. So one day I was Googling Mike Seidel, because one cannot possibly have enough pictures of the hottest hottie to ever wear a Bulldog jersey, I learned that the Weather Channel has a meteorologist also named Mike Seidel.
So, the newest RWD feature is the Mike Seidel Travel Advisory. Mike will be bringing you the weather for the weekend, wherever the team might be. Exciting!
>The Hangover
>
An esteemed reader of RWD (all readers of RWD are esteemed) fears that this season might turn out that way. Certainly the 03-04 season was filled with more successes and that team was more dominant in the league. But the expectations are high this year, and expectations are a heavy, heavy burden.
I think it’s a legit concern, but I also think that all is going to be well. (Unlike les Vikings.) And now I shall list my reasons!
1. The Bulldogs are led by three players who have had to bust their butts.
Mike Montgomery was a walk-on who played 9 games at forward his freshman year, and is now a captain and top defenceman who we nearly lost to the pros. Jack Connolly and Mike Connolly are ridiculously talented but have to continuously prove themselves because of their size.
2. There are lots of guys hungry for playing time.
There are 10 defencemen. 6 can play each night. There are 14 forwards. 12 can play each night. Better come to play every day, boys.
3. No reports about anyone coming back to school weighing 800 lbs or smoking pot or whatever.
One person is injured, yes, but other than that, it sounds like everyone’s in good shape. Of course, it could be on the double secret down low.
4. The freshmen coming in are excellent.
The freshmen in ’04-’05 were sort of exciting. THESE freshmen are blowing my mind. (Not as much as ’05-’06 freshmen, but still, awesome.)
5. The new arena is going to invigorate the team mid-season.
EVERYONE is pumped for this new arena. The team, the school, the fans, me. Especially me. It means more sell-outs, more excitement and buzz in the community, and I hope they can ride the wave of invigoration through the grueling second half. (Wave of invigoration? Meh. I’m leaving it in.)
>Ticket to Ride
>
RWD fans, be advised: when I can’t make games, I sometimes give away tickets on the site. I sit at the top of section 21, so they’re not amazing seats or anything, but hey, they’re free.
>Prescience
>
Most “predictions” are “guesses,” but not mine. I have awesome clairvoyant powers. Are you ready to be amazed? Well then.
I must have absolute silence.
1. tUMD
2. UND
3. St, Cloooud
4. Denver
5. Wisconsin
6. UMTC
7. CC
8. UNO
9. Buttmidji
10. Michigan Tech
11. Mankato
12. UAA
And thus it was written!
>Picture Perfect
>
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.
>What’s Your Fantasy?
>
Thanks to Bruce Ciskie and Brad Schlossman for their suggestions. All of Bruce’s selections were taken before I could get them, but I was able to take advantage of a few of Brad’s.
Here is Team Cougar 2010-2011!
1. Scott Gudmanson, G, UW
2. Danny Kristo, F, UND
3. Jay Barribal, F, UMTC
4. Gabe Guentzel, D, CC
5. Alex Hudson, F, UNO
6. Jason Zucker, F, DU
7. Dylan Olsen, D, UMD
8. Mark Zengerle, F, UW
9. Jordan Baker, F, MTU
10. William Wrenn, D, DU
11. Deron Cousens, D, MTU
12. Derek Forbort, D, UND
13. Mike Seidel, F, UMD
14. Nick Bjugstad, F, UMTC
15. Wade Bergman, D, UMD
16. Luke Salazar, F, DU
Here are the other teams, in draft order. Names have been changed to protect Weldie.
Team #1
1. Brad Eidsness, G, UND
2. Brett Olson, F, MTU
3. Tony Mosey, F, SCSU
4. Brad Hunt, BSU
5. Kurt Davis, D, MSUM
6. Rich Purslow, F, UNO
7. Travis Oleksuk, F, UMD
8. Mike Montgomery, D, UMD
9. Tommy Grant, F, UAA
10. Jordy Murray, F, UW
11. John Lee, D, DU
12. Curtis Leinweber, D, UAA
13. William Rapuzzi, F, CC
14. Kyle Schmidt, F, UMD
15. Aaron Marvin, F, SCSU
16. Joe Faust, D, UW
Team #2
1. Alex Kangas, G, UMTC
2. Jason Gregoire, F, UND
3. Justin Schultz, D, UW
4. Jesse Martin, F, DU
5. Rylan Galiardi, F, MSUM
6. Zach Budish, F, UMTC
7. Brad Malone, F, UND
8. Joey Martin, F, UNO
9. Aaron Ness, D, UMTC
10. Mario Lamoureux, F, UND
11. Sean Wiles, F, UAA
12. Channing Boe, D, MSUM
13. Zach Lehrke, BSU
14. Doug Leaverton, D, CC
15. Patrick Johnson, F, UW
16. Joe Gleason, D, UND
Team #3
1. Kenny Reiter, G, UMD
2. Anthony Maiani, F, DU
3. Matt Read, F, BSU
4. Ben Youds, D, MSUM
5. Ryan Lowery, D, CC
6. Jacob Cepis, F, UMTC
7. Beau Bennett, F, DU
8. Eric Olimb, D, UNO
9. Stephen Schultz, F, CC
10. John Faulkner, G, UNO
11. Sam Zabkowicz, D, SCSU
12. Drew Shore, F, DU
13. Brock Nelson, F, UND
14. Luka Vidmar, D, UAA
15. Matt Ambroz, F, UNO
16. Taylor Dickinabox, F, UND
Team #4
1. Mike Lee, G, SCSU
2. Mike Connolly, F, UMD
3. Evan Trupp, F, UND
4. Craig Smith, F, UW
5. Drew LeBlanc, F, SCSU
6. Rylan Schwartz, F, CC
7. Jake Marto, D, UND
8. Kane Lafranchise, D, UAA
9. Jake Gardiner, D, UW
10. Ben Hanowski, F, SCSU
11. Tim Hall, F, CC
12. Mike Dorr, F, MSUM
13. Travis Novak, F, SCSU
14. Jamie MacQueen, BSU
15. Nico Sacchetti, F, UMTC
16. Dillon Simpson, D, UND
Team #6 (Remember, Cougs drafted 5th)
1. Joe Howe, G, CC
2. Jack Connolly, F, UMD
3. Jordan George, F, BSU
4. Tyler Johnson, F, CC
5. Cade Fairchild, D, UMTC
6. Ian Lowe, BSU
7. Jaden Schwartz, F, CC
8. Dan Bakala, G, BSU
9. Derrick Lapoint, D, UND
10. Jared Festler, F, SCSU
11. Ryan Cramer, BSU
12. Taylor Johnson, D, SCSU
13. Michael Young, F, UNO
14. Erik Haula, D, UMTC
15. Kevin Wehrs, D, UMTC
16. Mark Alt, D, UMTC
Team #7
1. Phil Cook, G, MSUM
2. Chay Genoway, D, UND
3. Mike Hoeffel, F, UMTC
4. Kyle Ostrow, F, DU
5. Ben Blood, D, UND
6. Shawn Ostrow, F, DU
7. Patrick White, F, UMTC
8. Oliver Lauridsen, D, SCSU
9. Justin Faulk, D, UMD
10. Mike Louwerse, F, MSUM
11. Derek Lee, F, UW
12. John Ramage, D, UW
13. Andrew Hamburg, F, CC
14. John Kemp, F, UNO
15. Brett Bennett, G, UW
16. Kyle Brodie, D, BSU
Team #8
1. Justin Fontaine, F, UMD
2. Garrett Roe, F, SCSU
3. Matt Donovan, D, DU
4. Brady Lamb, D, UMD
5. Brett Hextall, F, UND
6. Steven Seigo, D, MTU
7. Matt Frattin, F, UND
8. Dan Dunn, G, SCSU
9. Adam Murray, G, DU
10. Sam Brittain, G, DU
11. Terry Broadhurst, F, UNO
12. David Makowski, D, DU
13. Matt White, F, UNO
14. Tyler Barnes, F, UW
15. David Eddy, F, SCSU
16. Nate Schmidt, D, UMTC
>Have a Seat
>
Behold:
I made some adjustments:
>Going Once… Going Twice…
>
On his Facebook page there’s a video of some of the items donated to the auction. I was hoping to embed the video but I’m not able to.
So here it is.For those of you not interested in clicking on the link, I’ll give you a rundown of what’s included on the video.
Hockey Sticks
Alex Stalock
Paul Stastny
Lord Parise
Tyler Bozak
various others
Signed Jerseys
Joe Sakic (Avalanche)
Mike Modano (Dallas)
Alex Stalock (tUMD)
Red Berenson (Michigan)
College Jerseys
St. Lawrence
Denver
UCONN (3)
RPI
Notre Dame (2)
Cornell
UND (2)
Alaska
Vermont
Brown
Buttmidji
Mankato
Michigan Tech
tOSU (2)
3 that I can’t identify. They might say in the video but I’ve only watched on mute. (Bruce helped me; they are Miami, Merrimack and Army.)
Other Jerseys
Peoria Rivermen (AHL)(2)
Southern MN Express (NAHL)
This is an awesome opportunity for jersey enthusiasts to add to their collections while supporting an awesome person. The hockey world is full of top-notch individuals and institutions with generous hearts and minds!
>Now We Are Six
>
When I was One,
I had just begun.
When I was Two,
I was nearly new.
When I was Three
I was hardly me.
When I was Four,
I was not much more.
When I was Five,
I was just alive.
But now I am Six,
I’m as clever as clever,
So I think I’ll be six now for ever and ever.
-A.A. Milne
Huh. Here we are again, another season.
Runnin' With the Dogs 