Those not interested in hearing about my son and I on our trip to
St Paul can push D now! ;-)
 
We originally hadn't planned on going, but a friend in Minnesota called
telling us he had 2 extra tickets for the weekend, so we started planning.
My wife, the baby and I were heading for St Paul and the boys would stay
with neighbors.  By wednesday of finals week, the creeping crud had consumed
the baby, son pual and Mom, and she said she couldn't go, and that Robert
and I should go.  Being both still healthy, robert and I packed and left
immediatly.  We left about 2 hours before sunset, and those who have been
in the UP know what that ment!  Before we had gotten to Ashland Wisconsin,
My son had counted 95 deer on the road (conservative extimate)  we played
dodge the DEER for 2 1/2 hours!  My eyes finally tired and we rolled into
a motel 100 miles north of St Paul wed night.
 
We rolled into St Paul at about 10:30 am, parked in the civic center lot
and walked over to the raddison. Not having a room, we went to the desk
and asked if they had any, and amazingly enough we got right in.
we met Carol,Erik and Paula and walked over to the rink.  LSSU continued
on their OVERTIME march to the finals as we Cheered our Yooper brothers on.
 
Between periods, I was able to meet a lot of the people that I read from
everyday.  nice to put faces with the names....  It was amasing how I
was able to just about peg everyone's personality from their postings.
 
Shannon Kelly's was a blast, I just wandered around talking to everyone
The best thing about the dinner was the whole room was filled with shirts
of every color from every team in the country.
 
I had run into Jamie Ram, Justin Peca and Pat Mikesch at the first game
and told them to come down and join us for dinner. The showed up and sat in the
corner, and I interduced them to the group. about half of the group went into
a standup bow to Jamie Ram when Introduced, embarressing him a little, but
all had fun.  Charlie Shub (cdash) talked at length  with Jamie, and Mike
Machnick (sp) talked to Justin and answered the age old question, Yes Justin
was related to the Peca MIke knew (name slips me know).
 
I handed out the Baseball tickets for sat during the dinner, and when they
were all gone, there were still 2 people standing in line.  Ryan Kingry
still wanted his 2 tickets, at first I thought he was joking as everyone
I had heard from had tickets all ready.  But on further talking, we
discovered he had sent 2 day priority mail from Anchorage to houghton
on thursday!  I called my wife that night ..... the package arrived
the following thursday, Proving that Anchorage and Houghton are on the
OPPOSITE ends of the earth.   Things worked out tho... see below for sat
 activities.
 
 Back to the rink, a gopher loss and more hockey-l chat between periods.
We moved to Erik and Paula's room for pig's eye and conversation.
mike, heather, carol, pam, tony, erik, paula, charlie, robert and myself
(sorry if i missed someone) talked hockey trips and hockey in general till
lete in the night.
 
Friday Robert and I got up and walked the skywalks, shopping and then
went off to the science mueseum for 4 hours.  Great place, I had to drag
my son out of there.  The creeping crud was starting in on me now and I
was sinking fast.  we went over to the Hobey announcement and met the hockey
 contingent.  and went on to the vulcans game.  The New Rink is impressive.
I signed up for a drawing at the Vulcans game for a pair of tickets
to saturday nights final NCAA championship game.  During the first
intermission, my name appeared on the score board! I had won the 2 tickets.
I had friends that didnt have tickets yet so this was great, but by the time
I found them that night they had already found some, so I sold them to
a BU fan in the elevator of the raddison at face value (he was happy with
the price and I covered some of my trip)  Fortunatly I didn't see him again
after the game! ;-)
 
Off to Stub and herbs after the vulcans game for more brews and conversation.
My son had a basket of fries and continued colleting things.    He had already
managed to scam a gopher hat, and a providence fan came thru and gave him a
Pin for the hat.
 
Some more late night chatting and beer drinking in the raddison when we got
 ca(arrrg) make that Back.  moved from the BU side to the pool party where
the MTU coaches were and back all night.  The hockey-l gooup inquired as
to who was coming to MTU for this years Winter Carnival, so I went to Rick
Yoe and came back with the news that Minnesota was our carnival opponent
Carol, Erik, Paula and Pam immediatly began to make plans!  Gonna be another
fun time at carnival! ;-)
 
Saturday, I took the Kingry's and Wendy to the metrodome, where they managed to
 get tickets just 3 rows above the hockey-l group.  13 hockey-lers
sat and watched the cubs get mashed by the twins 12-5 on a 10 run 6th inning.
Thanks to ERIK we had GREAT seats.  Upper deck 9th row directly behind home
plate.
 
Back to the raddson, where wendy went off with erik and company for dinner, and
my son and I walked back thru the skywalks to McDonalds.
By the Final game that night I was just about gone.  no voice etc due to the
creeping crud, but we had a good time anyway.  My son was yelling for
lake superior all the way, and even had a blue anchor painted on his face
by a woman in the raddison.
 
Oh almost forgot, before the final  we sat in the lobby of the Raddison for
about an hour or so and watched the battle of the bands.  The BU band was on
the west sid e of the lobby and the LSSU band was on the east side. A good time
was had by all, and then they marched off to the Civic center.
 
In between the second and third periods, I said good bye to all at
 thehaockey-arrrgg sory I'm at home sick and keep getting line noise.
I said good bye to all the hockey-l people as we left immediatly following the
 game to make our way home.  We stayed for the awards, and were impressed with
 both BU and LSSU fans as they cheered for each other.
 
The rid ehome was hell, my head and eyes were shot and we made numerous stops
to keep me awake, but finally made it.
 
With the exception of the CRUD! ;-)  Robert and I had a greeat weekend, and
look forward to doing it again in Milwaulkee when the Finals come back this
way.  With 3 kids, the trips out east are economically impossible.  My wife
handed me the Discover card bill from the WCHA final five when I got home,
and fortunatly Uncle Sam came thru with the Tax check today! ;-)
 
Thanks To all!  sorry about the length, but we had a blast!
 Bob