Saturday, November 29, 2008

Monday, November 24, 2008

Numbers and Other Stuff

This past weekend goes to the Mavericks.

4 hours of PTO.

728 miles.

2 games.

4 3 Husky-scored goals.

2 more losses.

ZERO points.


Boo to all that... except the Husky goals part. Although a larger number would've been better. Am I wearing the gold and black goggles? I thought they played alright this past weekend. Many may disagree with me. I do have one complaint though: PASSING. I swear by it, if this team can fix that issue, things will start happening! That's a pretty big problem to have. It can and does screw up all aspects of the Husky game. For example: the power play! That's obviously one of the areas of concern. One of the things I notice about all the teams we play -- their passing is so much cleaner than ours. And what do you know! The opponent wins more games than we do.

I believe my team does have the talent it takes to win games. That's very optimistic talk coming from someone like myself; I like to be negative more often than positive. We get the chances. Anyone who watches Michigan Tech hockey will agree with me -- the chances are there. The bounces just normally don't go our way, or else we get Mason who "intended" to blow the whistle right before we score so he'll take away all of our legit goals in a game. Yeah, I said it. But there were two amazing things that happened this past weekend that rarely happen to this team, it seems. First, the Mavericks got a goal taken away from them. It's usually always us that something like that happens to. I must say, it's a great feeling being on the other side once. And secondly, we got a bounce. I can't remember exactly what happened, but Maverick assistant captain Blake Freisen helped to put a puck in his own net. It crossed the goal line ever so slowly. Just awesome.

Even with two lucky things happening to us last weekend, we just couldn't win. THIS is the weekend to start turning things... against those stupid Beavers at Bemidji State... those WCHA-member wannabes. The hell with that! The Huskies need to shut them down this weekend and show the college hockey world that the Beavers are not worthy of being in the WCHA. We need to SWEEP them this weekend, just like what happened the last time these teams met. If we lose one or both games this weekend, I'm going to be pretty steamed.

Monday, November 17, 2008

UMN Recap; Looking Ahead to MSUM at Home

One point out of the weekend. Considering that we got that one point from the now #1 Gophers, it isn't such a bad deal. We were able to salvage a tie on Saturday and ALMOST won it at the last second. Special thanks to Jay Barriball for missing two WIDE OPEN nets. More thanks to Robby Nolan for playing a great game--a great series--this weekend. Robby made some amazing saves that I haven't seen out of him in like two years. He deserves much kudos for the great job he did this past weekend.
Sunday's game... what a bummer that was. Michigan Tech was outplaying Minnesota in every way. It took two stupid penalties to turn the game around in only an instant. Despite the game being turned around so quickly, the Huskies kept at it. They had SO MANY great opportunities, but Kangas stood tall. In the end, Tech got 38 shots through to Kangas, but Kangas chose that day to have his first career shut out. That jerk.
Tech outplayed the Gophers on Sunday and the Gophers are lucky to have gotten their two points. I am SO PROUD of my team for all of their effort and heart put out there this weekend. We didn't get the results, but I can't be TOO upset with how great they played.
My thoughts on my team--they have the talent, they just need a little more luck to go with that. OH! And how about Johnny Kivisto's CLANKING of the crossbar? Oh man... that was so close. If the net was only a half inch taller, that would've been a goal. So yes, more luck and the ability to finish.
So, this weekend we have the Mavericks at home. Last season, the Mavericks were the only team that Michigan Tech swept at home. Can we repeat the sweep this season? With Zacharias in goal for the Mavs, it's a tall order. Having seen Zacharias play the Sioux earlier this season, he's one tough cookie. And as for the rest of the team, I've only seen them play one game this season, but from what I have seen, their passing is nice... much better than Tech's. This might prove to be a pain this weekend.
And lastly, I just have a few things to say to the players -
1) WIN. I hate driving through the state of Wisconsin all the way to Michigan Tech to see my team lose to a bunch of pansies in purple.... or ANYONE for that matter.
2) STOP taking STUPID penalties! Play SMART! We no longer have Chris Conner playing on our team, so typically good things do not come from us being a man or two short.
...Um, I guess that's all I have for now. I thought I had more, but apparently not.
(Btw, Blogger is being EXTREMELY stupid and not registering my enters... so I made the first couple of words of each paragraphs a different color. Blogger sucks.)

Friday, November 14, 2008

Saturday, November 08, 2008

OMGWTFBBQ

Alright, I've done enough whining, time to face the cold, hard truth. The Huskies just finished taking it right up the ass in Madison, losing 0-6, including five, count 'em, FIVE Badger PP goals. Friday, Tech lost a 2-3 bout in which they tried to sneak back into the game when it was already too late.

Where do we go now? Onward to Minneapolis next weekend, to face a Gopher squad that completed a third period thumping of their own against New Hampshire, winning 6-2. One thing is for sure - play like that next weekend, and the Gophers will have zero problem torching us faster than one of my grandpa's gasoline-soaked bonfires. As I pack my bags, I can only prepare for the worst and hope the Huskies prove me dead wrong.

Thursday, November 06, 2008

UAA Recap; UW Preview

Ok, so I've been slacking a bit this week... and this season. Cut me some slack. That reminds me, I still need to introduce you all to Peter Rohn. That'll come sometime this season.

So.... the UAA series. It seems so long ago now. I remember that we split the series. I also remember that we absolutely BIFFED it on all the minutes of 5-on-3. We've been extremely unsuccessful in that area this season. I can't even begin to tell you how many 5-on-3's for over a period of a minute that we've been given this season. We just can't do anything with it. By the way, "biffed" is one of the most awesome words ever.

The power play was rather successful this weekend (not the 5-on-3, obviously) ... at least more successful than normal for the Huskies. It was just one weekend though. We'll see if that trend continues.

What a recap, eh? Hey, I do what I can around here. Work keeps me busier than school. Oh, and on a side note, I'd just like to say that UAA fans are the most amazing fans that there are.

Now, onto this weekend... I'm looking forward to another fun weekend in the Kohl Center. The Badgers haven't been doing well lately. This is either because they've had a tough schedule or that they're stupid cheeseheads. Maybe a little bit of both. Either way, Michigan Tech needs to at least split this weekend... because taking a game in front of 14,000 angry fans is a VERY beautiful thing. Plus we could always use the WCHA points. Wisconsin doesn't need them.

And lastly... Go Huskies!