Yes, as you may have heard we got it again!!! Only a mere 14.3 inches this
time but it all fell in about nine hours. Despite the weather, the Gophers had
two excellent games against the North Dakota Fighting Sioux.
On Friday night, before the national anthem, we had a few moments of silence
in remembrance of Bob Johnson and his great contributions to the sport of
hockey. I have NEVER heard Mariucci Arena that quiet. You could have heard a
pin drop. (very trite, but true)
The Gophers had a very interesting first period. I don't remember how long we
went without a shot on goal, but it was a while. We scored on our first shot
on goal and had TWO total shots on goal for the whole period! North Dakota was
really into the game and had 11 shots on goal. The difference was Jeff Stolp.
Our senior goaltender was unbelieveable! He made so many incredible saves that
we lost count. "The puck Stolps here!" was flashed up on the scoreboard
several times in each game this weekend. (Usually it only happens once a
game!) I really can't say enough about how fantastic Stolper played, hard to
believe that two years ago he lost his starting job to a Freshman and a
walk-on Senior!!
Also on Friday night, after a Sioux power play in which they didn't get a
single shot on goal the student section ("NEE") started chanting "Power Play!"
over and over as their advantage wore down. Very funny!
Saturday night we were without our faithful (and very mutant) Goldie Gopher to
lead the cheers. The crowd did surprisingly well ALL BY THEMSELVES!!! The
Pep Band started the MINN - NEE - SO - TA cheer and the crowd followed right
away. We don't know why Goldie wasn't there, but I didn't miss him playing
with all his dolls (Fred and Dino, Beetlegeuse, Gumby and Pokey, etc.) Actually
he had dropped his Gumby onto the ice Friday night and probably got a DQ for
that slip up! :-)
The games were what I expected, although Greg Shepherd who was the Ref seemed
to have left his contacts at home. He missed a lot of calls and seemed intent
on only calling the MOST obvious penalties....quite a switch from what we've
become used to this season. His favorite penalty is "cross-checking" and I'll
let you know that if you punch a player in the head at the end of the game....
you'll get a 5 minute major for.....CROSS-CHECKING!!!! Saturday night's game
got very chippy at the end and there were many multiple penalties. In fact
Shepherd stopped the game with FOUR SECONDS left in the third to call a
bunch of penalties. The last 4 minutes of the game took over 15 actual minutes
to play. (Groan)
I was keeping track of the penalties because I have noticed a certain pattern
in our games. (And I believe someone on the list raised this point not too long
ago.) At the end of the game, each team has the same or almost the same
number of penalties called. Now this cannot be a coincidence! So, if it's not
a coincidence, how do they DO IT??? It was distracting enough for me to put my
little hatch-marks on my program...I can't imagine the ref actually trying to
keep track like that, but....??????
Here's the proof: on 11/29 Minnesota had 3-6-1 = 10
N Dakota had 1-7-2 = 10
on 11/30 Minnesota had 3-4-7 = 14
N Dakota had 2-4-8 = 14
I also checked last weeks games in Alaska and on Friday Minn had 10 and Alaska
had 10, on Saturday night Minn had 6 and Alaska had 5. So what gives???
I'd be interested in knowing if this is peculiar to the WCHA or is happening
nation-wide. Also, what do you think about this? And for you refs out there,
please enlighten us if you can!! These are things that make you go HMMMMM????
On a lighter note, from the stats sheet handed out at the Blue Line luncheon
last Friday under "Credential requests":"CoSIDA and Hockey Writers Association
rules regarding cheerleading in the press box will be enforced, violaters will
be warned and then escorted from the press box." Sounds like a REALLY SERIOUS
problem! ;-) :-) *:-) (Guess you'll never find ME in the press box!)
And lastly, credit where credit is due...sophomore winger Joe Dziedzic's dad
who is a member of the Minneapolis City Council took on the cable-TV gods this
week and has temporarily arranged to have Midwest Sports Channel broadcast on
a city-access channel until further notice. The Mpls cable company and MSC
have been at odds for at least 15 months and maybe NOW they'll get a contract
worked out. I FINALLY can watch some NHL hockey and my Gophers!!! YAY!!!
Way to go WALT! Minnesota STILL has the 'Toughest Dads in Town'
Carol
U of M
GO Gophers!!!
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