Its Too Cold to Be Outside, Therefore I Blog

So, I haven't written anything worthwhile in a long time, you complain? Well, since I would freeze my balls of if I stand outside for any longer than 2 seconds, I'll see what I can do.

Well, we have officially entered into "the second half of the season" and we have a whopping one point more than we did in mid-November even though we are 3-3-1 in 7 (yes, I'm using selective statistics to prove that we've played marginal at best by the numbers). So, by looking at that, we suck miserably. Hopefully you were able to figure that one out on your own, I've known it since October. We're going to take a closer look at my selective statistics, though.

3-3-1. Well, let's play with that a little more, we'll say 3-4-1 since the weekend we got blown off the face of respectability by Denver back in December, giving up 12 goals and scoring one, exposing the goaltender with a giant question mark over his future to one of the best teams in the nation and showing that he does have some potential after the one who is supposed to be carrying this team failed miserably, and his respectable backup did too. Man, I'm sunny here, eh? I blame the weather. Anyway, getting to my point, I think getting an 11 goal differential shoved up our asses seems to have maybe had an effect on a hurt, struggling team. The weekend after Denver made us look like pee wees, the Huskies went to Duluth and held on over the weekend, giving up a winnable game, and then following that up by collecting their whopping fourth point of the year in a tie. Then, out of nowhere, in our worst season in recent memory, the guys come home and seriously embarrass a Northern Michigan team that they've struggled to compete with in the recent past. GLI yielded an embarrassment to Michigan, something that was to be expected but maybe could have been prevented by playing the veteran goaltender over the rookie, and an unbelievably unspectacular win over a North Dakota squad that was non-existent that weekend. Still, nothing to write home about, but considering the way things went, a reasonable finish to 13 straight weekends of hockey considering the quality of the start.

An off weekend, and then we went back to Denver, with most fans hoping for games that didn't look like the last two against Denver (6-0 and 6-1). I was lucky enough to catch Friday's game on television, and to be honest, I wasn't sure I was watching the right team. Derek Kitti started the game off on the right foot scoring a beautiful corner-shot after undressing his defender, and despite yielding further goals, the guys hit harder than I've seen all season and kept themselves alive, and even though they tried their hardest to lose, putting a puck in their own net, somehow we managed to score a goal with an empty net to tie. Such a great game, and another tie point. Or, maybe not. For the umpteenth time this season, we went offside on a lopsided rush with about 20 seconds left in overtime. And, believe it or not, we left Denver's most potent player unattended in front of the open side of the net, allowing for a simple pass and redirect to win the game with 16 seconds. A lovely end to a game that had so much potential. A great 'moral victory' for the team, but again, no points. Saturday seemed to be hard fought, but this one got put away with an empty-netter-against, so another sweep.

So, we lost two more games, what's the big deal? Well, there is potential hiding in there. If someone realizes that the games that we've played over the past few weeekends have sort of worked (except for the all-too-common gaffes), we may be able to put together an end to the year that has a slightly bigger number in front of two smaller numbers. It won't be easy, we play North Dakota, Anchorage, Colorado, St. Cloud, Duluth and Minne-sota, but four of the 6 series are at home (not that that's helped much so far) and the guys get two breaks to rest up during the mess (honestly, who came up with this schedule, its so stupid). There isn't much of anywhere to go from 10th place, but a few wins at home may help to instill some faith back in a severely marred program. That, and it would be fun to watch.

Unfortunately, our first charge is a group from North Dakota that just got done wiping Minne-sota off the ice 6-3 and 6-1. Granted, Minne-sota played some of the crappiest hockey ever, but it doesn't seem the team that we beat at GLI will be stopping in town. We could go the reverse-psychology route and hope that the Sue think they'll be winning 12-3 and 12-1, and in turn maybe end up merely winning in overtime or something like that, but you can never tell anymore. This weekend comes down to a goalie not crumbling under pressure (or normal play, I guess), putting a few pucks in the net, hitting hard and pressuring hard, and not making stupid plays, stupid turnovers, or taking stupid penalties. That's all I'm hoping for, and I kind of feel good about the weekend. Maybe I'll get a birthday surprise. Maybe we'll have 5, 6, dare I say, 7 points after this weekend? I'm not going to hold my breath.

Also, if you were bored to death by my post, head over to LetsGoDU and chek out how dumb Denver University is, how hostile, abusive and discriminating a plump white woodsman is, and how the liberal powers-that-be need a good ass-whooping out in Colorado.