Sunday, February 10, 2008

Sigh.

What a huge disappointment this past weekend was. It was sort of a double whammy. Not only did we lose the Winter Carnival Cup, but we lost 3 crucial WCHA points. We have dug ourselves in VERY deep and I will be shocked if we can get out of this and get home playoffs.

And for my usual Why We Lost segment: We can't find the back of the net. We can't finish. We can only tie at best if we have the best defense in the world but no offense. Our power play and penalty kills are another area of concern. It was nice to finally get a power play goal, however. (THANK YOU, GEOFF KINRADE!)

On Friday, freshman Bennett Royer, with a little help from fellow freshman Eric Kattelus, got the Huskies on the scoreboard first. I might also mentioned that Bennett played an AMAZING game and had many chances all game long. He was certainly one of the bright spots of the evening.

The game was a very close, evenly matched one the whole way. Sadly, in the third period, Kyle Turris was able to get one by Michael-Lee Teslak to tie the game. Since it finished as a tie, the team to win on the next night would be the 2008 Winter Carnival champions.

What is it about that 4-1 score? We've lost many games this season by a score of 4-1. Well in any case, that was the score with which the Badgers were able to defeat us and take our own Winter Carnival Cup. In fact, if it hadn't been for the fact that MeanEgirl favorite Geoff Kinrade scored a goal for Michigan Tech, I may have jumped off the lift bridge that night. So now, thanks to Geoff, I am here today and will suffer through the rest of the season.

Last year, the team finished at 18-17-5 overall. This season we're at 10-13-5 overall with 8 regular season games left in our schedule, and at least another two for post-season. The 2007-2008 season started out so bright, but came crashing down so quickly. We started the season at a comfortable 5-2, messing up a game against a young NMU team and losing at home to #1 UND... but with a sweep over a now HOT Mankato team, a victory over #1 UND at home, as well as defeating Wisconsin on the road. In our next five games, we went without a win. In the next nine after the win against UW at the Kohl Center, we went 1-6-2. From the GLI on to now, we have only been able to win four games, two of those against Atlantic Hockey's Mercyhurst. The question I would like to pose is: WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?!

I know what this team is capable of... But I am just confused as to why they're not doing it. What would Mike Batovanja say to get this team fired up? Mike, if you're reading this, give the guys a call and light a fire under their asses.

This weekend, UMD is coming to Michigan Tech. They always play us very tough in our own building. points NEED TO HAPPEN this weekend. I don't know what more to say.

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