8395: Section 6 (Saturday)
When I was in high school, I spent many Friday and Saturday nights at the Berry Events Center watching NMU's hockey team take on the CCHA and beyond. Because of living so far from Marquette, my hockey viewing while in college was normally no more than 1 or 2 games a season. Now that I'm at home and won't be working many Saturday nights, I have opportunity to catch a few games. Tonight, it was NMU against Ferris State. It's been a down year for NMU and they lost again tonight (their 7th of 8), but there's something about being with the Bradleymeister in Section 6 that is difficult to replicate,
I was able to make up for a lot of lost sleep today, since I got home from the paper at about 12:30, spent an hour and a half writing and then went to bed. When I did come to, there wasn't much to do besides watch Brian Kelly and Cincinnati take on Western Michigan in the International Bowl. I know a lot of disgruntled fans who said that they wanted to see WMU win against Kelly. Not me. I never support Western, and I was very pleased to see the Bearcats up 24-0 on WMU before the half. However, Cincinnati lost their momentum and WMU came back and actually tied the game. The good news was that Cincinnati put together a drive for a field goal with a minute left and won it 27-24. Brian Kelly now officially owns WMU.
I watched some of the first Wild Card game and putzed around for the rest of the afternoon before we had a very tasty turkey dinner.
After dinner, Bradley and I drove to Marquette for the game. NMU students can pick up free tickets beforehand, so Breanna and I worked together for a little fun. Bradley bought his ticket in Section 6, and I took mine in (even though it was on the other side of the arena, the students were gone, so we basically had our pick of the arena.
Northern didn't look so hot. They went behind early after failing to clear a rebound from in front. The teams traded goals through most of the first two periods. NMU had a nice one in the second period through a screen right in front of us, which made up for one that had been disallowed for a kick-in. Down 3-2 in the second intermission, Bradley and I decided to switch ends in hopes that we could see the game-winner for NMU. It didn't work out that way. Ferris took a 4-2 lead midway through the period, and even though we pulled that one back with the extra attacker with about four minutes to go, the game ended on a freakish empty-netter caused by an errant back pass that ricocheted off the board and into the net from 100 feet away. It's been that kind of a season for NMU, I guess. Ferris played pretty good defense and that shouldn't be ignored. However, NMU had lots of chances, including a 5-on-3, and a five-minute major after FSU's captain got a game misconduct for checking from behind, and they didn't convert. That's kind of the hallmark of bad hockey teams.
Even though we lost, Bradley seemed to have had fun, and I know I did, so the day was a success. I actually posted in the D1 section of USCHO for once and did various other reading and writing, and enjoyed some of a particularly funny rerun of SNL.
So, that's about all for the night. The Wildcats return home Friday and Saturday, January 19th and 20th against the Falcons of Bowling Green. Game time is 7:35 p.m. at the Berry Events Center. Hopefully, Bradley and I will be able to make time to be there. Good night.
I was able to make up for a lot of lost sleep today, since I got home from the paper at about 12:30, spent an hour and a half writing and then went to bed. When I did come to, there wasn't much to do besides watch Brian Kelly and Cincinnati take on Western Michigan in the International Bowl. I know a lot of disgruntled fans who said that they wanted to see WMU win against Kelly. Not me. I never support Western, and I was very pleased to see the Bearcats up 24-0 on WMU before the half. However, Cincinnati lost their momentum and WMU came back and actually tied the game. The good news was that Cincinnati put together a drive for a field goal with a minute left and won it 27-24. Brian Kelly now officially owns WMU.
I watched some of the first Wild Card game and putzed around for the rest of the afternoon before we had a very tasty turkey dinner.
After dinner, Bradley and I drove to Marquette for the game. NMU students can pick up free tickets beforehand, so Breanna and I worked together for a little fun. Bradley bought his ticket in Section 6, and I took mine in (even though it was on the other side of the arena, the students were gone, so we basically had our pick of the arena.
Northern didn't look so hot. They went behind early after failing to clear a rebound from in front. The teams traded goals through most of the first two periods. NMU had a nice one in the second period through a screen right in front of us, which made up for one that had been disallowed for a kick-in. Down 3-2 in the second intermission, Bradley and I decided to switch ends in hopes that we could see the game-winner for NMU. It didn't work out that way. Ferris took a 4-2 lead midway through the period, and even though we pulled that one back with the extra attacker with about four minutes to go, the game ended on a freakish empty-netter caused by an errant back pass that ricocheted off the board and into the net from 100 feet away. It's been that kind of a season for NMU, I guess. Ferris played pretty good defense and that shouldn't be ignored. However, NMU had lots of chances, including a 5-on-3, and a five-minute major after FSU's captain got a game misconduct for checking from behind, and they didn't convert. That's kind of the hallmark of bad hockey teams.
Even though we lost, Bradley seemed to have had fun, and I know I did, so the day was a success. I actually posted in the D1 section of USCHO for once and did various other reading and writing, and enjoyed some of a particularly funny rerun of SNL.
So, that's about all for the night. The Wildcats return home Friday and Saturday, January 19th and 20th against the Falcons of Bowling Green. Game time is 7:35 p.m. at the Berry Events Center. Hopefully, Bradley and I will be able to make time to be there. Good night.