#-1: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -2). A surprisingly strong survey this week; all five entrants won at least once and the top three teams went undefeated. I go to the XY icers at the U. for the top spot, mostly on the strength of their 5-4 overtime win at defending champion Minnesota-Duluth. Pretty exciting game; the Goofs tied it with less than a minute left in regulation and then won it with less than a minute left in the extra period. The Bulldogs are expected to have a down year because they lost so many players from last year's title team. But this yet another season of expected yet unjustified expectations at the U., so their victory -- when they coughed up an early 2-0 lead -- qualifies as a surprise. So they remain undefeated in their young year.
They finish at Duluth tonight at 7. They then host Vermont for a non-conference duo starting Friday.
#-2: Gopher volleyball (Last Week: -3). They have won three in a row, this week sweeping on the road against Michigan St. and at the Pavilion over Iowa. They are now above .500 in the B1(2)G. They face a tough test tonight, however: The 14th-ranked Goofs host conference newbie and #5 Nebraska. This is their annual game at Williams Arena, so tickets are just $1. This is also their annual breast cancer game, so maybe the team will be motivated by the cause and the big crowd and the brand-new, really good opponent.
Am I going? I'll admit that I'm having a change of heart after I just typed what I typed. And there is the novelty of seeing Nebraska as a conference opponent for the first time ever. But at the end I decided I'm going to the roller derby bout in St. Paul instead. Why? Two things: 1) I haven't seen my friend in some time, and 2) I think the team's going to lose. If they win, well, I'll slap myself silly. That's a promise.
#-3: Vikings (Last Week: -5). They won! They won!! They won!!! Er, that means that they won't be able to draft Andrew Luck. Eh, whatever, they won!
However, don't believe that everything's all hunky-dory now. The ViQueens didn't win the game because they didn't collapse in the second half. They won because the Bastard Chicago/St. Louis Cardinals are not a good team. The Vikes gave that team countless chances to come back; the Cards were just unable to capitalize. So, Adrian Peterson's three touchdowns and a hellacious offensive effort in the first quarter was enough to stand up for the other three. This team hasn't turned a corner -- not by a damn sight, not when Donovan McNabb still can't complete a pass out to the flat.
Next game: Tomorrow, at Chicago, as the Sunday night game.
#-4: Gopher women's hockey (Last Week: -1). There's a difference between St. Cloud St., whom the Goofs clobbered Saturday night 8-0, and Wisconsin, who is ranked tops in the country, surged out to a 3-0 lead and held them off, 3-2, to give the program their first loss of the season last night. The lady icers are ranked third in the nation, though they will slip in the rankings next week, but as a program that should consider themselves to be the best, this once again reinforces the perception that this big school is a step below other WCHA programs like the Badgers and UMD.
They finish their two-game series tomorrow afternoon, then host an uncommon Thursday-Friday series at Ridder against Minnesota-Duluth.
#-5: Gopher soccer (Last Week: -4). Beat Iowa in Iowa City, then lost at Illinois. They stand 2-3-2 in-conference, 5-8-2 overall. This week they finish their three-game road trip against Northwestern tomorrow afternoon, then begin their regular season-ending three-game homestand against Indiana Friday. I might go to that game ... or save that visit for the season-ender the following Friday, where they face ... new conference sister Nebraska. That might make up for not going to the volleyball match tonight.
By the way, congratulations to Midfielder/Defender Becca Roberts, for being named conference Co-Freshman Of The Week.
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