Monday, November 3, 2008

Still alive -- and other stuff.

Sorry I didn't wrap up the post Saturday night. It was a scramble to get to the post-game press conferences and write the newspaper story before deadline. Then I just got the heck out of St. Paul and onto my second-straight late-night drive back down 169.

Monday's paper did have a post-mortem on the College Hockey Showcase. It drew just 10,500 or so, which was below what expectations certainly were when the event was announced last March. The theme of the night seemed to be that, in theory, the Showcase is a great idea. But there are a lot of bugs to figure out. The story has more.

As much as I also like the idea of the Showcase, I couldn't help but think, while watching MSU play Minnesota, how fun it would have been to have that game at the Alltel Center, especially after Friday's 3-3 tie and last March's playoff series. I think it would have been a raucous atmosphere.

The Mavericks will be heading to Sarah Palin country this week, so it's probably a good time to field some of your questions. Post them in the comments section before, and I'll put up a You Want Answers post later this week.

3 comments:

Sam said...

Can you explain why the Gophers mascot, cheerleaders and pep band were at the Xcel Center on Saturday for the Mavericks "home" game? I didn't see any SCSU cheerleaders/etc. in the early game against Duluth. It was Duluth's "home" game and only their cheerleaders were there. The fact that the U of M's full crew was there, along with their pep band that constantly played their school song, really upset me as a "home team" Maverick fan.

Hagar said...

I think MSU is going to have to spring for a new strap for Zach's helmet. Or maybe we should start a Helmet Counter and keep a tally of how many times it comes off throughout the year. From what I can remember,I think we may be up to 5, maybe even more.

Alexander Parker said...

Any insight on Youds's play? It seems the veteran-like demeanor and poise that made him good last year has completely vanished. He seems to be playing very emotionally and frustrated. I'm guessing his performance Saturday (2 or 3 of those goals were partly or mostly his fault, and Zacharias saved him on a couple other give-aways) will warrant another benching... maybe both games next weekend.