farce poobah

Quick check of the history books. We've lost at St Cloud by 7 goals before. At St Cloud, 2-9, on Friday, January 20, 1995. Saturday? We won, 5-4.

I"m not a coach, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express ... Change one thing? Poise with the puck. Too many blind passes, passes to an area, and passes made when the intended target wasn't ready. And most of those weren't "forced" as in St Cloud checking us off the puck (though there was some of that). Hang onto it for just another ½ second, get set, then pass the puck. Same thing for clearing attempts on PK; we're failing to clear too many times because we're too-jumpy. Get back to basics. Fast.

I remember giving up 9 to Wisconsin, March 1982. a month later we beat them for a National Championship. this. Is. Not. Over.

KG

With Ben Holden doing PbP for Big Ten hockey, I can almost watch without throwing up. Almost. 5-1 gophers late 3rd.

Western Michigan making Miami look good by playing awful team defense and taking loads of penalties. Western 5-3 Miami late second

Motzko with a well timed challenge. 5-0 after two periods. (gopherpucklive: “what the hell just happened “)

Summit hockey! Okay, please not. EDIT: I haven't read the by laws, and I sure hope there's no requirement to start a conference if 6 schools sponsor a team.

It’s okay. He’s on a mission from God.

St Cloud is approaching Red Army powerplay conversions at 34% so far this year, and killing them at 84%. But 5x5, i think we will be just fine.

An excellent read on one of my favorite players, Troy Murray. Here's wishing you a strong and fast recovery, Troy. Troy Murray, Blackhawk Through and Through He joined UND in the fall of 1980, a season with 13 new players after the Sioux won the 1980 title and went on to lead the Sioux in scoring as an 18 year old freshman. But like so many great Sioux players, he was maybe even better at defense than offense. Certainly worked as hard at it. Troy went on to win the Selke Trophy as the top defensive forward in the NHL in 1985-1986. In that season, he put up 99 points. (Let that sink in for a moment.) Yes, the legs feed the wolf. But great defense feeds offense too. Had the fun of meeting him, back in the day, on campus and a couple off campus "events". A young man with his head on straight.

Betting Lake State also with some illness issues. That plus MSU defense really got on it tonight, in their 3-0 win: 5 saves for Dryden McKay and of course another shutout. This despite Lake State getting 13+ minutes of powerplays. Ouch.

Gopher first line is really good. But the rest of team is getting worked over by the Sioux tonight.

Senden! great for the guys to get a reward after an excellent stretch of play.

Challenging contact to Driscolls head I guess.

5x5 we looked okay. But we can’t give them power plays.

Note to UND administration: please do NOT schedule this series on Thanksgiving weekend or any other time the students aren’t in session. That is short sighted. Thank you.

Actually Gopher math sucks as bad as they do. Friday is the 290th game between the two teams. https://fightinghawks.com/news/2021/11/24/mens-hockey-notes-old-friend-comes-to-town-for-thanksgiving-showdown.aspx They like to count various games in the 1920’s and 1930’s, before UND sponsored a bins fide University team. PS just another cue to the rivalry … can’t even agree on how many games played.

Okay, its official. I'm fired up. Ten Years After the Timeout Game Another excellent writeup from Schlossman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jq6nLtGYaz4

Radio Shack. Sold as “Bicycle Safety Helmets”

I am one with the Farce, and the Farce is with me. If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can imagine. Literally, perhaps not, but the spirit lives on.

I have only vague recollections of that incident, but Paul Butters, from Rochester, was a goalie for them in the 79-82 timeframe. One of our Farce members was a young woman from Rochester. With the low plexiglass in those days, she could stand in the front row and speak directly without any barrier in between them. Anyway, she described things some guys had done with his sister (naming names), which got him pretty steamed. But what got him over the top? When she continued on with well-founded rumors of things other guys had done with his mom (again, naming names and also locations). One of the best examples of living rent-free in an opponents head I heard. She was amazing. PS he earned a new nickname for Saturday’s game “whiplash Butters”. He hated that too.

Pre-staged is a great word to describe…. Duct taping stuff under seats. Or having the band smuggle in a 3-foot styrofoam puck. In an instrument case. “ Try to Stop this, sieve.”

Gopher Week is also a good time to talk about "Never Give Up. Don't Ever Give Up." Fall 1996, UND at Minnesota on Saturday night, trailing 10-3. They didn't give up, and scored 3 late goals to make it a 10-6 final. Eventually those 3 goals, combined with a split of the season series (after a legendary sweep in GF), gave the Sioux the tiebreaker (total goals) for seeding at the WCHA Final Five. Which meant the Sioux got top seed, an "easier" Friday afternoon game, last change vs Minnesota in the Championship Game, and meant Dean Blais could pick and choose matchups, which he did to great effect. That win gave us an easy route to the Frozen Four in Milwaukee - just one regional game in those days of a 12-team tournament. Minnesota had to win two games, and didn't, and UND of course did win. At the Frozen Four, well anything could happen, and it did. "Never Give Up. Don't Ever Give Up."

Land Rush indeed. Fortunately, the front of the line was usually the same people, and wanted to capture the same seats each night. (At least in the late 70's and early 80's.) I remember only a couple nights where some of the smart people in the Farce asked people not to drink in line, or before getting in line. Those were the exceptionally cold - 35 with 35 mph winds - and it would have been dangerous. But most nights, people wanted either see the snow snakes, or seek protection from the snow snakes. Memory is somehow hazy on that point. (For Gopher Week: stick the dead gopher in the glove you took off, to hold your ID when getting searched upon entrance. )