>0-fer? No, Sir!
>Ugh. I kind of hate that post title, but I’m going with it anyway.
The disgusting fact is, this is our first win against a team from the state of Minnesota.
BUT WHO CARES?????????????? WE WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Who cares if Kronick scored a goal?? It was the ONLY GOAL!
Who cares if we’re in 9th place?? We didn’t care last year! (Well, we cared, but it didn’t stop us from beating Denver!)
Who cares if St. Cloud fans left in droves after Meyers scored on the PP? I’m sure tUMD fans stayed til the end!
I listened to the game tonight with UMDDogz, The Alleged Webmaster, and DA, while flipping between the HS hockey tournament and the Gophers-Seawolves game, while monitoring the Wild game through GameTracker. It was sort of a lot of hockey. You might say.
Ummm… I don’t even know what to say, I’m so excited! Yay! Let’s get out there and SWEEP!
Important other news: 7 Bulldogs were named to the WCHA All-Academic Team.
Andrew Carroll
Jason Garrison*
Michael Gergen*
Matt Greer
Matt Niskanen*
Mason Raymond
MacGregor Sharp
*denotes one of My Guys
Numbers
Playoff Wins Until We Surpass Last Year’s Total: DONE!
My “Guys” Competition:
Matt Niskanen: 30
Michael Gergen: 16
Mike Curry: 14
Matt McKnight: 8
Jason Garrison: 2
Freshmen Competition:
Akins: 10
Fulton: 9
Stalock: 4
Gorsalitz: 2
Palm: 1
C. Ryan: 1
(Ahem, freshmen!)
On Notice:
Drew Akins: GD 19 PD 8
Trent Palm: GD 26 PD 26
Ryan Geris: GD 36 PD 7
Travis Gawryletz: GD 37 PD 4
Matt Greer: GD 14 PD 14
Jeff McFarland: GD 13 PD 13
Jay Cascalenda: GD 13 PD 13
Michael Gergen: GD 10 PD 6
Jordan Fulton: GD 9
MacGregor Sharp: GD 4
Andrew Carroll: GD 6 PD 6
>Postcards from RWD, Vol 8: Hottie Warning
>
>A Thought…
>…while watching the high school hockey tournament:
What if you were forced to listen to a conversation between Lou Nanne and Sid Hartman?
>It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year
>No, not Christmas…
Not even the playoffs…
March is when the All-WCHA Hottie Team is announced!
This year, since I have about five or six more readers than the zero I had last year, I’m enlisting your help. If you’ve got a hottie on your team, send evidence! Especially if you think the guy’s going to be overlooked (As Mae West says, “It’s better to be looked over than over-looked.”)
The All-Hottie Team works the same way as the regular All-Conference Team. There’s a first team, second team, third team, and freshman team.
Please send your submissions to Runwiththedogs(at)hotmail(dot)com. And don’t send me a virus, because I will cut you.
***EDIT*** Readers are, as always, invited to make their own teams. I’ve contacted some of you individually, but this is open to anyone. It’s 3 forwards, 2 defensemen, and Robby Nolan 1 goalie.
>Rolling Out The Red Carpet
>I wish I’d gone to the MTU-UMTC games this past weekend. Not because I’m a huge fan of either team, but because I could have defended the honor of the Tech fans being harrassed in videos you can find over at the Michigan Tech Hockey Blog. I realize the losers doing the harrassing got thrown out, so physical violence wasn’t required, and I probably would have gotten kicked out as well, but I think a youtube video of me and my ninja skillz would have been pretty cool. I think I’ve met those guys before… or at least, some guys EXACTLY like that, at that exact venue.
Also, I don’t understand why Boosh doesn’t like Fundamentals of Engineering Thermodynamics. It is an excellent book that is, believe it or not, in my own little reference library. If you want a horrible book, try Introduction to Nuclear Engineering by Lamarsh and Baratta. But then you’ll want to kill yourself.
>Snow Day
>The most awesome thing in the world happened today: my work closed early! I feel like a child again!
Apparently, in Duluth, things are getting crazy. Thunder and lightning, spray from Lake Superior washing over the lift bridge, and no hope of rescue since the plows have stopped running. It was good thinking for the Badgers to get going early, as they missed the worst of the storm and are holed up in the Holiday Inn probably chowing down on room service.
There IS a Gauntlet forthcoming from my dear friend at the Wisconsin Hockey Blog, so sit tight and count some snowflakes.
Also, you could read this fab article about the Bulldog seniors, and more specifically Biggie Mac, over at the WCHA site. I’m going to go watch Back to the Future. RWD out.
>How To Win A National Championship
>in ten easy steps
Hear ye! Hear ye! The UMD Bulldogs are officially out of the basement!
That’s the Good News.
The Bad News: we need the Non-Evil Huskies to prevent the Gophers from winning the league, or else we’ll be travelling to that big trailer park out west to face the Evil Huskies. And we don’t want that, for a multitude of reasons.
We need to keep it together in the next few weeks, because March hockey is the most important hockey of all. (Yes, I realize April is when the Frozen Four is, but you can’t have April hockey without March hockey.)
Here’s the plan.
I. Kick Wisconsin while they’re down. They were just swept by Tech, and they’re vulnerable. Go for the jugular!
IIa. Draw St. Cloud in the play-offs. Roll in, silence Kronick, and knock them out of the Final Five. We’re overdue for a win against them. I like our chances in a best-of-three.
IIb. Draw the Gophers in the play-offs. Swoop down on the John and continue the Gophers’ playoff woes. We played them hard back in November, and they had to cheat to win. They don’t have Crazy anymore, and if they were to end up in second, they would be a demoralized team.
III. Dominate whoever we face in the play-in game. Take no prisoners.
IV. Friday night, kill the #1 seed. We’ll have already knocked off either St. Cloud or UMTC, so we’ll just knock the other one off.
V. Become the first winner of the play-in game to win the Final Five.
VI. With out auto-bid, win the regional semi-final (preferrably with a shut-out, like we did in 2004.)
VII. Win regional final.
VIII. Hold 3-goal lead in Frozen Four semis this time around.
IX. Hoist our first National Championship banner.
X. Riot. (Optional.)
Next year: repeat steps IV-IX.
9 more wins, baby! (Though 11 would be nice…)
>The S Word
>Sadly, I was working tonight, just in case someone needed to run out and buy something completely needless, despite the relentless snow. So, I missed out on the awesomeness that was tonight.
RWD would like to extend a standing ovation to senior goaltender Josh Johnson for his shutout tonight, the second of his Bulldog career. Believe it or not, Josh has a winning record, in the conference as well as overall. I know he’s struggled through some things during his career, and I am glad to see him man up to the task.
The other story of the night is Kemper the Wrecker, with two goals, one being an unassisted shorthanded goal to get the ‘Dogs on the board. I’m sure those crazy ladies we met in Denver were screaming their lungs out for you, Nick.
Numbers
Points Until We Surpass Last Year’s Total: DONE!
Wins Until We Surpass Last Year’s Total: DONE!
My “Guys” Competition:
Matt Niskanen: 30! (Excellent! Off notice!)
Michael Gergen: 15
Mike Curry: 13
Matt McKnight: 8! (It’s about time!)
Jason Garrison: 2 (Any time now, buddy!)
Freshmen Competition:
Akins: 10
Fulton: 9! (Listened to my direction!)
Stalock: 4
Gorsalitz: 2
Palm: 1
C. Ryan: 1
On Notice:
Mike Curry: GD 15
Drew Akins: GD 16 PD 5
Trent Palm: GD 23 PD 23
Ryan Geris: GD 33 PD 4
Travis Gawryletz: GD 34
Matt Greer: GD 11 PD 11
Jeff McFarland: GD 10 PD 10
Jay Cascalenda: GD 10 PD 10
Michael Gergen: GD 7
Jordan Fulton: GD 6
Josh Meyers: GD 4
>Mr. McGregor’s Garden
>With pitchfork in hand, Bryan McGregor certainly kicked some butt tonight, getting 2 of the 3 Bulldog goals. Would I have loved it if McGregor had found his scoring touch, oh, say, two seasons ago? Or even last season? Yes. But it isn’t too late for Mr. McGregor to lead the charge over the Peter Rabbits of this world. I’m ready for Bryan to pull a Buster Stapleton and lead us to a Final Five.
Time for the stick salute tomorrow night, boyos.
Numbers
Points Until We Surpass Last Year’s Total: DONE!
Wins Until We Surpass Last Year’s Total: DONE!
My “Guys” Competition:
Matt Niskanen: 29!
Michael Gergen: 15 (Missed a breakaway, booo!)
Mike Curry: 13 (Great chances!)
Matt McKnight: 7
Jason Garrison: 2
Freshmen Competition:
Akins: 10
Fulton: 8
Stalock: 4
Gorsalitz: 2 (Gives new meaning to the term “Crash the Net”)
Palm: 1
C. Ryan: 1
(Dear freshmen, get your butts in gear and score.)
On Notice:
Nick Kemp: GD 11 PD 6
Mike Curry: GD 13
Drew Akins: GD 14 PD 4
Trent Palm: GD 21 PD 21
Ryan Geris: GD 31 PD 4
Travis Gawryletz: GD 32
Matt McKnight: GD 9 PD 4
Matt Greer: GD 9 PD 9
Jeff McFarland: GD 8 PD 8
Jay Cascalenda: GD 8 PD 8
Michael Gergen: GD 6
Matt Niskanen: GD 6
Jordan Fulton: GD 6 PD 6
Mason Raymond: GD 4
Josh Meyers: GD 4
>New Blogger in Anchorage?
>I was reading the Anchorage Daily News today (as its one of the dozens of newspapers I read cover to cover on a daily basis, so I can keep up on what’s going on in the Narrow World of College Hockey), and I came across an ad for a new blogger for the Seawolves. I didn’t know they were looking, as I thought Donald had it covered, but apparently not.
You see, apparently when I interviewed Donald for The Gauntlet back in November, I inadvertently made public a potentially damaging fact about him. You see, Donald was not born in the United States. He is, at his own admission, “100% Scottish blood.” I guess he didn’t realize that this admission would come back to haunt him.
Months later, Donald’s blogging visa is expiring (he is currently working under an H1-Blog visa), and he needs to apply for a green card to keep on blogging. However, the Internet needs to prove that there aren’t any United States citizens who are also qualified for and interested in the job. I think Donald probably assumed he was safe, since he has been doing such a great job covering the Seawolves.
However, UAA athletic director has to prove that Donald is uniquely qualified for the job, and prove why the other applicants are unable to meet the job’s requirements.
Other applicants include:
Dirty (unqualified, Craig Dahl-like candidate)
Frank Bretti (revenge)
Troy Ward (more revenge)
Puck Swami (possible dark horse)
DGGoddard (also a foreigner)
Dude Love (totally unqualified, must have opposable thumbs and walk upright in order to apply)
Rabid Husky (ditto)
Walsky’s mom (possibly going to bring down the blog from the inside?)
John Hill (revenge, the third)
RWD (as a joke)
Doyle Woody (Donald’s archnemesis)
Since there are so many applicants, and they are spread far and wide, the interview process will most likely be a lengthy one. Donald had better come out with some good posts in the coming weeks, if he wants to keep his job.
I’ll keep you posted, folks.
Runnin' With the Dogs 