Okay, now that I have a terminal set-up at home (thanks Erik and Paula!!) I
will be able to get my reports out sooner! ;-) I would have gotten this report
out sooner, but the main computer had some serious problems last night and
today. I think all is fixed now....if you sent me mail yesterday or today, I
may not have received it (just in case).
The Minnesota Gophers gave their last regular season game in (old) Mariucci
Arena their ultimate best on Friday night. The 7,735 fans in attendance were
treated to quite a show before, during and after the game. As the last regular
season game, it was senior night and three regulars and one JV player were
introduced along with their parents. The arena was packed to the rafters and
gave quite a hand to John Brill, Tom Newman, Travis Richards, and Dave Norqual
who played only one or two Varsity games but who was a regular on the Junior
Varsity for four years.
John Gilbert's article from the Star Tribune on Saturday morning summed it up
in one paragraph: "Measuring emotional highs on a scale of 1 to 10, Gophers
hockey coach Doug Woog and goaltender Tom Newman would have registered 15s
Friday night. But then so would have 7,735 spectators, the largest crowd of
the season in Mariucci Arena's final regular season game."
The Gopher Pep Band started out the evening by playing the "Battle Hymn" which
has proved to be very lucky for the Gophers of late. I got there early, as did
many other Gopher fans. It was a very emotional evening and I had plenty of
kleenex packed in my purse. There were lots of cameras to record the event,
fans AND media. The TV station which broadcast the game and the closing
ceremony brought in extra cameras for the event also.
I had my camera and two rolls of film. I took photos of everything, start to
finish. For the closing ceremony, most of the lights in the arena were dimmed,
so I'm not sure how those will come out. The TV station televised the entire
ceremony and did a wonderful job with it. Last night, Erik, Paula and I
watched the game tape and it's definitely a keeper!
Senior goaltender Tom Newman was absolutely brilliant!! He stopped all 25
shots the Huskies threw at him. You could say he "stood on his lips". And what
a celebration dance he did at the end of the game!! ;-)
The only Gopher goal of the game came from freshman Andy Brink, who is our
secret weapon and has now played only 14 games this season.
Woog was given the game puck at the end of the game and then the closing
ceremony began... All of the championship banners (both NCAA and WCHA) were
lowered to the ice and the Gopher seniors and juniors skated them over to the
captains who were all lined up at center ice. One of the biggest cheers was
for the 1973-74 NCAA Championship team who was represented by former captain
and goalie Brad Shelstad. The cheers from the crowd kept getting louder and
louder as the succeeding champions were announced. The Pep band kept playing
all the Gopher fight songs softly in the background and ended with the "Battle
Hymn" at which point I totally lost it. It's hard to have spent half your life
watching hockey games in such a special place! When former Gopher captain Bill
Baker accepted the 1979-80 banner, the crowd started chanting U-S-A! U-S-A! in
honor of his participation on the 1980 Gold Medal winning Olympic team.
The banners will be raised again in a similar ceremony at the opening of the
new Mariucci arena in August when the Gophers have their annual Alumni
weekend. I will have to be sure that I am not on vacation at that time. ;-)
I have nary a doubt that this coming weekend there won't be a dry eye in the
building on Saturday night, when the Gophers will really play their last game
in the old barn. :-(
Details on the Sunday rematch will have to wait until tomorrow....
-Carol
|
