Ok, so I'm a disgruntled Gopher fan!! My husband and I had the (dis)pleasure
of attending the Friday night game at Duluth. Actually we had a good time. The
DECC is a nice arena to watch a game from. It really makes you realize
what a dump Mariucci is where the majority of the seats are obstructed!! We
were very impressed with the Bulldogs, especially their special teams. There
were a number of Minnesota power plays where the Gophers didn't get a single
 shot
on goal.
 
The UMD student section was definitely into the game. Whenever the Gophers got a
penalty (which was very often), the band's drum section played a cadence where
 they
yell YOU!! at the offending player. The students follow up with "SUCK SHIT".
 They
also stood up during the Minn. player introductions holding up newspapers. The
announcer at the games takes pride in being a homer (as most do!). After each
 UMD
goal (which was very often) he yells (and I mean YELLS!!) "HERE'S YOUR U-M-D
 SCORING!!!!"
at which point he gives the details of the goal. During the game we had two
 different
UMD students stop by our row (which was all Gopher fans) and thanked a number of
us for coming up to watch their sweep - and this was when the score was 4-3 in
the first game of a series the dogs hadn't swept since 1981!!!
 
I'm seriously worried about the Gophers defense and goaltending. The players
 seem
to have lost all confidence in the goalies, which at times makes them
 over-compensate,
thus leaving the goalie hang out to dry. The good thing, is this is a very young
 team,
while UMD is laden with seniors. I wish the Dogs well. They are very good and
 should
make the WCHA proud in the playoffs (that is if they can get by Alaska in the
 WCHA's).
 
 
go go gophers!!
shari