Thursday, November 23, 2006

Something to Smile About

While MEg is busy being angry about the ignorance and foolishness of the overly politically correct, I figured I'd share something that we can all be happy about. This came from George Gwozdecky, coach of the Denver Pioneers. (Special thanks to Quizmire for this.)

I think that Michigan Tech ... I think everybody here who watched this series saw a completely different Michigan Tech team then they have in many, many years and they play hard, they play well together, they're getting great goaltending and they're the kind of team that is going to be in every series throughout this year and it doesn't surprise me that they've had the success up to this point they've had because they're a very good team.
I'm impressed with Michigan Tech, speaking, to get outshot by a team like that is nothing to be embarrassed about or anything like that. They gain an awful lot of respect for how they play and as I said before, I think they're going to be outshooting quite a few teams this year. I think that they stood the league on its ear last weekend with what they did against Duluth - manhandling Duluth, [a] pretty darn good Bulldog team, and they went to Vermont about a month ago and took Vermont apart. Vermont's a damn good team, so when you look at that, and you say, well, how come you got out-shot, they're a pretty good team, they're a pretty darn good team.

One summer seems to have made quite the difference, not only with our Huskies, but with the entire WCHA. Check out this week's standings:

1. Minnesota
2. Denver
3. North Dakota
4.
Michigan Tech
....Alaska Anchorage
....Colorado College
7. St. Cloud
....Wisconsin
9. Minnesota-Duluth
....Minnesota State

The presence of the shiny rodents at the top isn't surprising, but seeing Seawolves and MTU Huskies at number 5 with the Badgers at 7 makes this Tech fan happy. There's still plenty of hockey to go around, and next weekend will bring quite a bit of entertainment with the continuation of our MEg-Borer soap opera in a battle of the Huskies. I guess if you're a Husky fan, that means there's no way to lose in this series. We can forget about ignorant old women who run their mouths on bullcrap topics and look forward to some awesome hockey instead, regardless of the mascots and their ethnic affiliations.

Ignorant Idiot of the Year Award

So as I'm sitting here trying to enjoy my vacation, I stumble upon probably the most effed up thing I've read in a long while... Dartmouth's Director of Athletics and Recreation, released a statement to The Dartmouth, which is the student paper at the university, on the upcoming hockey tournament they will be hosting; a hockey tournament in which the North Dakota Fighting Sioux will be participating in.

From here:

Apology for hockey tournament mascot
By Josie Harper, Director of Athletics and Recreation
Published Tuesday, November 21, 2006

To the Editor:

I am writing to strongly denounce the historical and recent affronts to the Native American community at Dartmouth and to offer the support of the athletics department in playing a leading role to combat racial, ethnic and sexist ignorance and intolerance on our campus.

At the same time, I must offer a sincere apology to the Native American community, and the Dartmouth community as a whole, for an event that will understandably offend and hurt people within our community. In late December, we will host a men's ice hockey tournament that includes the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux. UND is one of 14 colleges or universities that continue to maintain a Native American name and image to represent their athletic teams.

Let me state clearly that UND's position is offensive and wrong. When we scheduled UND nearly two years ago to participate in our tournament, we did so without considering their team's nickname and symbol. Perhaps we should have, but I deeply regret that we didn't.

On Friday, as I was traveling on College business, a member of my staff met with the Native American Council to discuss our hockey tournament and to offer our apology for the pain that it will cause. In the days and weeks ahead, I will develop a specific and continuing plan to address issues of respect and tolerance within the athletic department as well as considering a policy for scheduling athletic contests against institutions that support offensive nicknames and symbols.

I can't make this stuff up, folks. I just can't. I cannot believe that someone in her position at an Ivy League university could say things so dumb. I've heard more intelligent things from NMU fans.

I'm going to quote it again because it's just amazing:

Let me state clearly that UND's position is offensive and wrong. When we scheduled UND nearly two years ago to participate in our tournament, we did so without considering their team's nickname and symbol. Perhaps we should have, but I deeply regret that we didn't.

WOW. JUST WOW. The only thing you're going to be regretting, Ms. Harper, is putting this release out to the public.

It is my strong belief that this woman should be kicked very hard in the shin for saying things so dumb and making her once respectable university look moronic and ignorant. Ok, so perhaps Dartmouth is still respectable, but they have an AD that's dumber than a brick. If the university wants to maintain their respectability, they should drop her like a bad habit.

If you too would like like to let Ms. Joann Harper know how much of a moron she is, please take the time to send her an email. She can be reached at Joann.Harper@Dartmouth.edu. You can perhaps make a better impression over the phone. Her number is (603)
646-2465. Maybe next time she can think twice, or even think once, before she publicly humilates her university.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Just a Little Bit Short (Like Me...)

Apparently LetsGoMavs doesn't like me slacking on my blog, so to make her happy, I'll have to do an update. It's Thanksgiving Break for us Techies, so we're kind of lazy right about now. Michigan Tech is the only school in Michigan that gives their students a whole week off for Thanksgiving...

But anyway, on to hockey...

So last weekend our Huskies went to Denver to see what they could do against the then-11th ranked Pioneers, who were just coming off a sweep against UW at the Kohl Center. This was their first REAL test to see whether or not they mean business this year. I know I say that every week, but I mean it this week!

For this past weekend, I'm giving my team an A for effort. I don't think that's enough consolation for them, however.

The Michigan Tech Huskies proved that they could play with the big boys for 6 periods of hockey. Almost everything went the Huskies' way, except for the scoreboard.

Friday night was a heartbreaking 0-1 loss. Don Adam did everything he could to help our Huskies out. Tech was on the right side of a 5 on 3 power play for 1:31 AND had a 5 minute major powerplay. Unfortunately, Tech's powerplay is flatter than an 10 year old girl's chest. In the end though, Brock Trotter's very fluky first period power play goal would prove to be the game winner.

On Saturday the Huskies proved that they will not just lay down on the ice, no matter how deep of a hole they dug themselves into. After the first period, the Huskies found themselves down 0-2. They just couldn't seem to produce anything. Second period though, the Huskies came out firing. With goals less than 1:30 apart, the game was tied at 2. One of those goals was a powerplay goal, fortunately. Similar to the night before, they had over a minute of 5 on 3 AND a five minute major powerplay. They were again unable to do anything with either of those major opportunities though.

With each team getting a goal in the third, first Denver then 1:09 Tech returns the favor, overtime was forced. Both teams had some great opportunities in OT, but in the end, DU's Peter Maninno and MTU's Robby Nolan stood tall (like I only wish I could do), and reserved their teams each one WCHA point.

As for Tech's play this weekend... they played hard and were always in the game. Unfortunately, they only managed to take 1 point this weekend while they were deserving of all four, but that's the way it goes sometimes.

I'm pretty sure that the Huskies will be working on their power play at practice before SCSU comes to town on 1-2 December. That's definitely one area this team could use some help with. Everything else has been outstanding, namely the forechecking, goaltending and defense. The team always keeps the offensive pressure on, but just sometimes has a problem finding the back of the net.

Monday, November 13, 2006

MTU Team Embarrasses UMD Team

...Ok, so I wouldn't call it an embarrassment, just as I wouldn't really call RWD's blog entry on me an embarrassment... at least not entirely. It just works with the whole name scheme.

Last Friday's battle between the Huskies and the UMD Bulldogs proved to go absolutely... nowhere. The teams fought their hardest and only walked away with a 0-0 tie. Perhaps the lack of results was due to the lack of energy in the building.

The goaltending on Friday night was outstanding. The passing was a bit sloppy. The checks (at least the ones by the Huskies) were outstanding.

On Friday night, Drew Dobson saw his first ice time in a WCHA game. The overall impression that he has made on the Tech fans was very positive. I personally thought he came out with a lot of energy from beginning until end, working hard every step of the way. Coach Russell must've also been pleased with his hard work, as he was in the lineup on Saturday night as well (where he assisted on Tech's first goal of the night!).

The results on Saturday proved to be a bit more exciting for Michigan Tech fans. MTU senior Tyler Skworchinski (3-3--6) put away the last two in the 4-1 Tech victory, including the icing-on-top empty netter at the end. Also scoring for the Huskies was Malcom Gwilliam (2-2--4) and Tyler Shelast (4-4--8) with the GWG.

Michigan Tech's goaltending this weekend was excellent. Michael-Lee Teslak posted his second shutout of the season on Friday night while Robby "No-More-Red-Light" Nolan stopped 95.2% of the shots he saw on Saturday.

Hopefully the guys can keep this up... great physical play, excellent goaltending, superior defense and very good depth. They will see their biggest challenge yet next week as they travel to Denver to face the Pioneers. The Pioneers are just coming off of a sweep against the defending national champions, the UW Badgers. They have a lot of momentum and home ice on their side. However, if the Huskies continue the way they've been playing, Denver is in for a real fight...

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

UMD Blogger Embarrasses MTU Blogger

Luckily it's all over with now. That was absolutely one of the most frightening experiences of my life. Well, probably one of the top 125 at least. Runninwiththedogs, who does sarcastic and biased coverage of the Bulldogs in the Runnin' With the Dogs Blog, featured me in her Gauntlet series. As I have been reading her blog for quite some time now, I have come to the conclusion that she has balls the size of watermelons. Never afraid to ask or say anything, and that's what makes her blog so great.

You can find The Gauntlet: Nerd Edition here:

http://runninwiththedogs.blogspot.com/2006/11/gauntlet-nerd-edition.html

Sunday, November 05, 2006

What the Heck Is Up With this Hockey Thing?

So, after the early season noise made about the Huskies' miraculous start, it seems we are as mortal as the rest of the WCHA. I personally cannot be a reliable source for game information, as I was busy listening to the Edmonton Oilers get royally screwed by ever-stupid ref Mick McGeough, as well as watching Don Adam screw over the UMD Bulldogs on my awesome cable package at home. By the time the Huskies played, I was half asleep and absorbed in a wonderful calc assignment, while talking to MEg and trying to download Real Player to get the stupid broadcast to work, so I missed most of the game.

From what I've seen, Tech played hockey, but not to the end result we would have liked. CC maintained a shots-on-goal advantage Friday, wheras Tech took the SOG margin Saturday, but both games ended unpleasantly for us loyal Tech fans. Ironically, the only losses this year have come on Olympic size sheets.

These losses beg the question, what happened? Like I said, I don't have the answers, but I can offer some condolence to anyone ready to jump off the wagon. This year is no different than the others, it has merely started out a bit sketchier conference-wise. The great thing about the WCHA is that any team can win any weekend, as shown by UAA playing hard and splitting the weekend with the Badgers, after Tech dealing them a 0-9 loss and a weekend sweep. UND and SCSU played to a 3 point weekend for the Sioux. UMD and UMN would have split the weekend if not for outrageously bad officiating. Tech has a horrible record with CC, but there is nothing to say that we cannot move on and continue our winning ways, provided the psycholgical part of the sweep does not affect anyone, which it should not by any means. One cannot expect any team to play a perfect season in a league as competitive and diverse as the WCHA. If we wanted to win week in and week out we'd go to the CHA, at which point I'd pack my bags and move to Madison. So fans, remain faithful and keep those Boosh Factors high, because this upcoming weekend will be an exciting one. I cannot make any guarantees, but look for some high quality hockey at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena--I know I'm ready for it.