KATIE writes:
 
> Finally, I cannot believe the manner in which the UND fans acted towards the
> Gophers.  You won, isn't that enough?  You don't need to pelt the Gophers
> with your bottles and cans of pop or beer.  That is about as rude as I have
> seen it.
 
Well, they acted that way when their team WON.  Imagine how they act when their
team loses!  Yikes.  But then, Ralph Englestad (sp?) Arena has never been known
for their tight security...
>
> *I will leave it to Pam to talk about the goal that went in off the back
> of the pipe withh 35 seconds to go that wasn't counted.  It would have tied
> up the game.
>
I wasn't going to even comment on it.  But the red light DID go on, however
briefly, and Carol DID emit a squeal which endangered the Bievers' breakable
dinnerware and probably disturbed the slumber of canines all over the
neighborhood, but I'm not so sure it DID go in.  Certainly we couldn't see it
too well from the camera-angle.  And maybe it's better for the Gophers that it
didn't.  I don't know if they got the impression that they're invincible or
what.  They can just show up and the win is theirs, as long as they decide to
play one period of hockey?  Well, if this overconfidence was brought about by
that number 1 rating, then I'm sure it has cured itself quickly, and they won't
have to worry about having that rating anymore. ;-) :-(
 
Okay, I have to say something somewhat positive about the Gophs to balance that
grumbling.  They have started the season by playing UMD, Wisconsin, St. Cloud
and North Dakota, their 4 biggest rivals.  I'd say Minnesota is the primary
rival for all 4 of those teams, so all of them gun for Minnesota regardless of
how Minnesota is ranked any particular year.  Minnesota's primary rival is
definitely Wisconsin, but the 3 other teams all want to beat us more than we
want to beat them (relatively speaking, anyway...) and I think the Gophers have
responded, for the most part, fairly well in that situation.  They may just have
run out of emotion after 4 straight weekends of big rivalries.
 
{sympathy mode off} BUT THAT'S NO EXCUSE!  :-)
 
One final note:  Don't think head coaching is tough on the stomach?  Look at the
tape of this game.  Doug Woog definitely looked in need of some Pepto-Bismal at
the start of the third period (when his team was down 4-0).  And Dean Blais
looked like he could have used a little of the pink stuff himself by the end of
the third (after his team had given up 3 unanswered third-period goals and came
within inches of giving up the game tying goal for the second time in as many
nights...)
 
Now I gotta go type in those boxes.  I was lazily hoping someone had beaten me
to it!  :-)
 
Pam Sweeney                             Go Gophers!!!
[log in to unmask]       1993 & 1994 WCHA Playoff Champions
                                   1994 NC$$ PHinal PHour
                                        Ski-U-Mah!!!