It Wasn’t What We Wanted.
But there is no anger tonight. Not from me. Sadness, yes, of course. Frustration, sure.
These boys have done so much. They did so much that no one expected. None of us. Not me, not anyone.
What I feel most is love. Love and pride for this team, the scrappy Gopher team we always wanted. The team that fought back, time after time. The team that won the MacNaughton. The team that got back to the NCAAs, destroyed BU and ended UND’s season, getting the revenge we so desperately wished for.
They got to the Frozen Four. How many years now have we wanted that? Last year, we were despondent in mid-March. I just looked up the date our 2010-11 season ended: March 12. This year, almost a month later, we were still playing Gopher hockey.
Think about last Sunday. Think about how wonderful it was. Think about the MacNaughton victory, over Wisconsin, who, by the way, spent the playoffs sitting at home. Think about all the great moments this year, all the comebacks, all the screams of delight and all the moments. All the times we thought they were done only to have them come roaring back.
This time they really were done. And it’s OK to be sad. But this team was so fun to watch. They lured me away from the safety of the TV to watch live for the first time since 2007. And it was totally worth it.
I’m so proud of them, especially the senior class that led them, that rallied them after the Final Five, that pushed them all year long. These seniors did so much for not only this particular Gopher team, but also cemented their legacy among Gopher teams of the past. They truly brought the Pride on Ice back to Mariucci Arena, and for that all Gopher fans are incredibly grateful, and they should be very proud.
What a run it was. And what a juggernaut of a team BC is, unfortunately. To say Ferris will have their hands full on Saturday night is a huge understatement. But let’s remember all the amazing things, all the good times, all the unbelievable moments this year had to offer us. For once in March, Gopher fans didn’t have to hang their heads, didn’t have to hear endless chirping from that place to the northwest or that other place to the east. We emerged from the wilderness at last, and they were running scared.
And it felt good. It feels bad tonight, but this whole year feels so good. It’s sad that it’s over, but I’m so glad it happened. Way back on the first day of the season, if someone had said to you, “The Gophers will make the Frozen Four this year”, what would you have said? After you finished laughing, you probably would have referred them to the nearest mental ward.
But we did it. We did it. And tonight doesn’t wash that away. Nothing will.
Tomorrow the sun will come up and life will still go on. Many of you perhaps have the day off work. Get outside and enjoy it. Have an awesome spring and summer. And be proud. Because this year, the pride was back.
It’s been really fun for me to write this little blog this year, for the handful of you that read it. I hope you’ve enjoyed following along with me here and on Twitter. Gopher fans will always be the best in college hockey. :)
And to the Gophers: though our NCAA title dreams died like Whitney Houston tonight, I-ee-I-ee-I will always love yoooooooou. Thanks for an amazing season.
I’ll see you in October…
Boston College Preview: What Dreams May Come.
I’ve started dreaming about the Frozen Four.
It started Sunday night.
Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose. Sometimes I can’t find the channel on TV. Sometimes I’m there. Most end in tears, whether happy or sad. The most recent one ended with me saying “I can’t believe it, I can’t believe it,” over and over again. As confetti fell. In my apartment.
There is so much of this season I can’t believe. Even from the start. I keep thinking of last year, how low we all were, how much silent staring into space I did. How has that changed to now in only a year? I don’t want to ask that question. I just want to enjoy it, embrace it.
Boston College is a good team. (Hard-hitting analysis.) Really good. Probably the best in college hockey this year. They have a high-powered offense. A stingy defense. An unbelievable goalie. And they’ve won 17 straight. To say the Gophers are the underdog is an understatement. It will be their biggest test to date. They will need a complete A+ game from everybody.
But.
The funny thing about the Frozen Four… the funny thing about the NCAAs, or any tournament… is that the best team doesn’t always win. One only has to remember UND last year to be reminded of that. And you remember, don’t you? In between sad, silent stares? The first thing that made you smile again? (Even though it was Michigan?)
And it seems this team does the best when no one expects they will.
We’ll see what happens Thursday night. In the meantime, I hope you are enjoying, as I have been, the feeling of our team in the Frozen Four. It’s been awhile. It’s like in cinematic masterpiece of our age, The Mighty Ducks, when Gordon Bombay says to Charlie right before he takes the big penalty shot: “Look around. Who ever thought we would make it this far.”
SPOILER ALERT: Charlie makes the shot and the Ducks win. Quack quack quack.
Perhaps our Gophers can use a little Mighty Ducks magic against the Hawks, I mean Eagles.
Revenge, As Seen From Behind Enemy Lines.
My presence was requested in Grand Forks Sunday morning. And so, I packed up my car and drove the northward journey, away from spring, toward winter’s dying breaths.
I was promised a quiet room to yell in. My dad offered his office for the occasion, which is upstairs in their house. My room here, also upstairs, with basically a blackout curtain as a blind (GREAT for sleeping), only has basic cable. But ESPNU in HD was in the office, and so was I, setting up a command center: radio feed on laptop, Twitter on iPad, game on TV.
At the first intermission, I wandered down for dinner. And as I was finishing up, I looked over at the TV, saw the Gophers’ second goal, and screamed, startling both my parents.
Shortly after, 2-1. And shortly after that, back upstairs to the command center for the duration. And then. And then. Revenge. Revenge in sight of two enemy flags (one next door, one across the street) and in perhaps the only room in this entire town with a Gopher pennant. It had to happen like this. It had to happen here.
(Even Goldy has a hat! So cute :) )
I can’t begin to describe to you how this feels. I mean, you get it. We all do. After years in the wilderness, after a colossal meltdown just a week ago, here we are. Frozen Fucking Four. Who expected this? Not me, when I started writing this blog in October, intending for it to be a humorous account of disaster, or at best mediocrity.
I cried at the end, of course, and not for the first or last time. Dad, who greeted me when I arrived in a maroon shirt and subtly gold vest, said “About fucking time” as we shared a victory hug. Perhaps he was insistent I come up Sunday not only because the weather was forecast to be bad on Monday. Perhaps he needed strength in numbers. And you know? Maybe I did too.
And my mom. So many people make this victory so easy and delicious, but then there is Mom. My vanquished foe, but my drinking buddy. We had a bet that the winner pours the loser the first glass of wine and I was all too happy to fulfill it. She’s fine, although I waited until she ran errands Monday to snap this picture of the Grand Forks Herald front page:
My attempts to keep it were thwarted when it was swiftly whisked out to the recycling bin. But the internet is forever.
I know Minneapolis is thrilled. I’ve read and watched all the coverage I can from there. I still can’t get through this Gopher Sports video without teary eyes. “Yeah baby we’re going to Florida!” Every damn time.
But here. Here in enemy territory, we few little Gophers can pop our heads out of our hidey holes without shame. The obnoxiousness has ceased. The endless chirping is quiet. And we are enjoying, reveling, basking in a silence that is truly golden.
I’ll be back in Minneapolis next week, just in time for the Frozen Four, which, by the way, we are in!!!!!! Expect a preview of the BC game around then! As stupid as I think having a Frozen Four in Tampa is, it’s nice for the boys to get a sunny destination as a reward.
My dear friends and fellow Winos, our team is a Good Team once again. They are where they should be, and it feels incredibly amazing. And the best part? It’s not over yet. :)
FROZEN FOUR FROZEN FOUR FROZEN FOUR!!!!!!
Uh, more analysis later.
FROZEN FOUR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
#REVENGE
First, Redemption. Now, Revenge.
The NCAAs were everything I remember them to be.
My general downcast attitude of the week washed away this morning. My eyes sprung open. Playoffs. Today.
And the nerves. I kept them at bay by running some errands this afternoon but then I was back and then Command Central was at the TV and then, and then, and then.
Those doom chimes. You know the ones. Even when I hear them on other sports, my heart skips.
The chimes for my hockey team. My team. We were in, after years in the wilderness.
It was everything I remember. Shrieks. High pitched wails. Gasps. Yells. I spent the first ten minutes of the third period with my fists clenched on either side of my chin, until Nico scored that beautiful goal and I finally exhaled.
Third period. Two goal lead. And disaster didn’t strike. Even after they scored, disaster didn’t strike. The wheels didn’t fall off. They worked. The fourth line scored. Defensemen scored. They blocked shots. The open wounds on my heart scabbed over. Then reopened. Then scabbed over again.
And after all of it, as I was hanging my jersey back up for tomorrow (oh… tomorrow) my phone jingled.
My dad. “Nice win for the boys.”
See, Dad doesn’t generally watch the games because he cares too much. He can’t bear to see them lose. But when the playoffs roll around, things change a bit.
We are still alive, and now my family is torn apart for one final time. The funny thing is, I was supposed to go to GF in the morning. I still may, but if the weather holds I’ll probably wait until Monday.
If we win, we go to the Frozen Four. If we lose… we hear chirping all summer.
Can we win? Oh yeah.
Will we? I want to believe. I want revenge. I want ‘07 in reverse.
But more than that, I want, actually and for real this time, a full 60 minute game from the boys. I want every ounce of effort exerted. I want it all left on the ice.
If that happens, if they truly do all they can do, if they can live with themselves knowing they did everything they could, then whatever happens happens.
One game from the Frozen Four. Hold nothing back. Rip their hearts out.
Boston University Preview: *shrug*
I’ve been trying to write this since Monday but haven’t wanted to deal with it.
Haunted, I suppose. See, if they’d been this awful all year…
I don’t know. And that’s the main point.
I got an email in my inbox this morning reminding me that single day tickets for the Regional are on sale!!!!! I made that mistake once. And now we see why I don’t attend the Final Five or the Regionals: because I can change the channel. I wonder if there are other fans like me out there. I’m sure the price doesn’t help. I don’t even particularly want to watch the game that badly, but of course I will. Of course. I’m tied to the mast of this sinking ship.
To BU, then. An always strong team that still has their NCAA-winning goalie, but has struggled of late (only .500) and has dealt with losing players to defections and sexual assault allegations. At least the most a Gopher has ever been charged with is drinking a Long Island while underage. (Need I even mention the WCHA murderer count?)
Can we beat them? Sure.
Will we? No fucking idea. I have absolutely no trust in this team.
I don’t know. They could be motivated. They could sweep through the Regional with revenge on their minds, as we’d all like them to.
But this is a Lucia team, so more than likely they will wither up and die. I hope I’m wrong about them, but what did I see last week? It doesn’t seem like they’re mad enough about it, and that worries me. Shades of ‘06 in many ways.
All in all, I guess this just means the Gophers I remember from college are back. Regular season kings, playoff disappointments.
On the other hand… we’re still playing. And the NCAA tournament will be a new experience for the whole team. I hope they at least enjoy it and leave everything on the ice. I hope they’re angry about what happened last week. I hope they want revenge as badly as we all do.
I’m not generally an online comics reader, but this is one of my favorites. For those of us that have suffered from depression (Me? Depressive? No!) it really nails the feelings and how the whole thing works in your mind. This is my hope for them, that rather than that terrible loss making them skittish or fearful as it has made us, that it pushes them through to the other side described in the comic. That they feel like they can do anything, that nothing will hurt them. Because that’s when they’ll try. And that’s when they’ll win.
But I don’t know.
We will, though. Soon enough.
The Pride on Ice is Back! (at Ridder)
Huge CONGRATULATIONS to the Gopher Women’s Hockey Team on their NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!!!! Even sweeter that it was a 4-2 victory over the Badgers! Way to go, ladies, it was the perfect ending to an amazing season. Well-deserved!
Especially after this weekend, how satisfying is it to see this:
Even Goldy could smile again! Bucky, of course, is incapable of anything other than a douchey sneer.
GO GOPHERS!!!! SKI-U-MAH :)
A Wee Bit of a Catastrophe.
So now we’ve learned why I don’t go to the Final Five.
It is perhaps difficult to describe the slow motion trainwreck we witnessed this evening, or should I say witnessed until I changed the channel to basketball, then deciding I didn’t really want to watch any more sports today, thanks.
Of course it was a complete choke job disaster. Why even post a Tragedy Chart because it’s off the charts. It was the Mayans blowing up John Cusack or whatever that movie was about, I never saw it. No, it was worse than that. It was the Mayans telling John Cusack he totally had this and then blowing him up. Something so bad it was even hard to believe it was real, that it wasn’t something concocted out of my nightmares, the same ones where I’m forced to go back to Grand Forks and eat every meal at the Olive Garden for the rest of my life, where all the boys I’ve ever loved tell me all the reasons it would never work out. Too weird, too ugly, too into hockey, whatever.
All year I’ve wondered how they’d hurt me and this is how. Waiting until the worst possible moment. As they always do, those soul-destroyers, those heartbreakers. Hope is only created to be destroyed, love only exists to hurt. I’ve been telling you this all year, but you still hope and love, and sadly, so do I. We know better, but we don’t really. We’re human beings. And here’s the worst part: so are they. They should do this and that and the other thing but other than being exceptional athletes, they’re really not so different from you and I. Actually, it’s even worse than that. They’re college kids. Think about yourself when you were in college. Most of us were a complete fucking mess mentally. I know I was. I guess I haven’t outgrown this phase completely because I write blogs about hockey for fun. Fun, yes, that’s what this is.
Perhaps because I am so intimately intertwined with this particular rivalry it is a special kind of pain that is difficult to bear. But the funny thing is, with every painful loss like this, and there have been several since I chose up sides, it only solidifies my decision more. They are my team. They are fuckups, just like me. Neither of us were very popular in our hometown, you know?
But more than that, in a way my love for the Gophers is the only thing I have left of the world before NoDak, the world of the farm, rural northern Minnesota, the forgotten world. Of my paternal grandpa, who died when I was 5. All my memories are thus clung to: him reading me poems, us watching All Creatures Great and Small on PBS (still get a little weepy over the theme), playing Legos, this game where we’d put our fists on top of one another until we’d make put-up-your-dukes motions like boxers. Back when I was but little Hawaiian Punch-o in footie pajamas. Back when I was known by a first and middle name. We were all Minnesotan then, and I have always been since.
Especially as now it’s St. Patrick’s Day, I think of my grandpa, who was of Irish ancestry, who had everything with shamrocks and wheat and Irish proverbs. Green will never be their color. Green is ours. St. Patrick’s Day brings to mind all St. Patrick’s Days prior, when I was young, when my dad sang Irish Rovers tunes and told me that when we celebrated it in school, unlike all the other full-on Scandinavian kids (I’m also part Scandinavian, like every Minnesotan), I should be proud, because I was really Irish. I too recognize the irony, as my family immigrated in the late 1800s and no one’s set foot on the Emerald Isle since.
But whatever it means in this melting pot universe, it’s always been important. To call (100% Norwegian) Grandma’s beloved Christmas Nisse leprechauns just to piss her off. To be from the only part of the world where ghost pale with freckles might be considered pretty. I got my first sunburn today, of course, so the freckles should be popping out shortly.
So tomorrow… well, later today… I’m going to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. I’m going to wear my green, eat some Shepherd’s Pie, have a Guinness or two, crank up Grandpa’s favorite Irish tune, and Dad’s too, maybe even attend the parade. I’m going to think about how lucky I am to have a wonderful family and amazing friends (especially you, HW readers!) and even a future that’s looking up. And you know what? So our hockey team folded like an origami crane. That can’t ruin it.
In two days we have Selection Sunday. And then we’ll talk about hockey again. OK? Take the day off tomorrow. Even if you’re not Irish, sing and dance and laugh and have fun. Remember everyone you love, and everyone who loves you. Drink. Eat hearty fare. Enjoy this crazy awesome spring we’ve been having! Watch March Madness, and enjoy those upsets we have no stake in! (LOL Forever, Duke and Michigan)
It’s OK. If you remember, that 2007 game they kept showing tonight, which was great, ultimately led to our defeat in the West Regional. Maybe next week, we can return the favor.
Exclusive Photo Inside Wino Family Compound
See you tomorrow night.
WCHA Final Five Preview: We’re actually in it!!!!
Previously on Gopher Hockey: Despite almost giving all their fans multiple massive strokes, they swept Anchorage!
And I’m not kidding. I ran the gamut of playoff emotions from fear to rage to elation to rage to relief. And now, back to fear.
For the first time in three years, we’re back in the Final Five! And we play Friday night against an as yet unnamed opponent, the winner of tonight’s St. Cloud/UND game (please St. Cloud, for my family’s sake!).
The Final Five has long been the best weekend of the college hockey season, when crazy things always happen. Since it usually coincides with the first weekend of the NCAA Basketball Tournament, it’s a wonderful weekend of sports overload. Enjoy it… as best you can… and be reminded that this is the fun part. Then it’s Selection Sunday, and then…
Well. We’ll save all that angst for next week :) Go Gophers!
