Ski-U-Mah!

Don’t care about sports? Care about this and give it its due consideration and respect! The University of Minnesota women’s hockey team lost a hockey game over the weekend. The fans of the team, including my wife and I, can’t stop cheering for them. Here’s why?
by Charlie Leck

I’m telling you, that was some run! I don’t know whether a streak anything like it has ever been produced in sports – certainly not in hockey, my friends.

The University of North Dakota defeated the Gopher’s women’s hockey team yesterday (Sunday) by a score of 3 goals to 2. It’s done. It’s over. The pressure is finally off the women; but what they did is absolutely historic and mind boggling.

The women won 62 consecutive games without a loss. It is the longest winning streak in college hockey (men or women). At the conclusion of this game, the fans stood and applauded and applauded and cheered and cheered. Praise, gratitude and love rained down on the Gopher women. Last season they were the national champions and had a record of 41 wins and zero defeats. It is an accomplishment that boggles the mind.

The winning team on Sunday tried to celebrate in proper and jubilant fashion, but they were overwhelmed and set politely aside as the Gopher fans in their home arena dampened the feeling of defeat and then put it out all together. This was no loss. This was a moment to celebrate their historic and amazing accomplishment.

Bang! Bang! Bang! North Dakota, a great hockey school, scored all three of their goals in the first period; and they were all scored by freshmen who hadn’t been in college and around for the Gopher’s historic run last year. The meaning wasn’t there for them and they didn’t understand the wild celebration of joy that surround the Gopher women. The victorious team just stood by there in Ridder Arena, on the U of M campus, and watched the celebration of love that surrounded the team they just defeated.

The Gophers played heroically after those first three goals were scored against them and they fought valiantly in trying to pull defeat out of the jaws of victory.

This morning I pour out a heart full of love to this team for what it accomplished and how beautifully and graciously they did it. They made collegiate sports history that may just stand unequaled forever.

Ski-U-Mah! Rah! Rah! Rah!

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Ski-U-Mah! Ski-U-Mah!

NO TV EYES ON GOPHER WOMEN
It is quite amazing – what the Gophers women’s hockey team will try to do today; and it is shameful that we will not be able to watch it on television.
by Charlie Leck

An undefeated season is one of the goals the University of Minnesota women’s hockey team will pursue today. Amanda Kessel, who yesterday received the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award as the best women’s hockey player of the season, and all her teammates will take to the ice today in an attempt to finish an entire season undefeated and win the NCAA college championship.

It could turn out to be one of the most outstanding and outlandish accomplishments in the history of college sports. The Gophers are 40-0 this season and 48-0 going back into last season. They won the national championship last year.

They will begin play today at 3 PM at Ridder Arena against Boston University. The beautiful, but small, ice arena will be jammed packed with enthusiastic followers who want to view a bit of sports history. BU is a fine team that will give the Gophers a complete and exacting test. That is at is should be. Such an achievement should not come easily. If they do it, they should be made to accomplish it against a worthy opponent.

One would think that some one of the dozens and dozens of TV channels would be there today to provide national coverage of every single second of this remarkable attempt – instead of, let’s say, another round of the weekly National Poker Championships.

My hat’s tipped gratefully to these young women in recognition of their incredible accomplishment and I’ll be listening to live coverage of the game on NCAA.com in order to get in on the excitement. In the meantime, my heart screams out: “Go Gophers!” Or as we say here, more locally, Ski-U-Mah (pronounced sky-you-ma)!

Oh, my! I hope they pull it off!

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Easy on Sunday Morning

Some Sundays are better’n others! Today is particularly good because the sports section of the paper isn’t so glum after a big Gopher victory over Purdue in football; yet some sports writers can’t seem to churn out anything unless it’s downbeat and punishing – even after such a wonderful victory.

by Charlie Leck

I think you have to be a certain type to be a sportswriter or columnist. Y’gotta be a mean son-of-a-bitch – downright mean and nasty.

I decided to avoid the first section of the paper this morning. As a matter of fact, I’m not going to think about politics again until tomorrow morning. I’m gonna have a nice, quiet, easy Sunday morning and I think I might just go to church to hear some good music (a la maestro Philip Brunelle). Perhaps, if Jim Gertmenian is preaching, I’ll also get something meaty to chew on. Maybe I’ll say a word of thanks, too!

For now, however, I just want to read the sports section and revel in the fact that the University of Minnesota’s football team, ‘til now with zero victories in three Big Ten Conference tries, has won a game against a conference rival. Sweet!

The Gophers poured it on a mentally unprepared team yesterday – a team that had been reading about how terrible the Minnesota team is – a team that had glanced at the Minnesota record of loses to Iowa (31-13), Northwestern (21-13) and Wisconsin (38-13) – and thought they’d come in here and enjoy the autumn fresh air, play a little football and then jump on the big jet back to whatever the hell town Purdue University is in, anyway, with a something big to 13 victory. In other words, they weren’t mentally prepared for what actually hit them yesterday afternoon – a young, freshman kid named Philip Nelson. The final score was 44 for the Gophers and 28 for Purdue – and 21 of those points for the visitors came after Coach Jerry Kill started sending in some of his second-stringers to get them some experience.

I keep wanting to spell Purdue as perdu, the French word for lost – or wasted, missing, gone, or dead.

I’d watched Purdue play remarkable losing games against very reputable opponents in the last few weeks – Notre Dame, Ohio State, Michigan and Wisconsin – and thought they were certainly good enough to come in here and humble our team. When they scored the first touchdown of the game, with what seemed remarkable ease, I sat back in my chair and said, “Oh, no! Not this again!”

But then, young Mr. Nelson took over and put on a passing exhibition that we’ve not seen around here in a long, long time – touchdown, touchdown, touchdown! Nelson got his defensive buddies all excited and they began playing like they were the better team – interception and touchdown! Field goal! Field goal!

Before I even began thinking about getting dinner started, the Gophers were up 44 to 7. Coach Kill began sending in young defensive players so he could watch them and “get some film on them,” as they say in the trade. Purdue (la perte) awoke from their sommeil (sleep) and put a few points on the board; however, Minnesota made them do it slow enough that the clock was now the greatest enemy (ennemi) of la perte.

Here’s an AP story about the game if you really want to read about it!

As for me, I am once again a big Gopher fan. I think I’ll dig out that maroon hat with the big, gold M on it and wander around, up and down the sidewalks of Lyndale (My Town – mon ville) today.

If you go to our local paper today, to examine the sports section, skip the Jim Souhan column. He must be terribly constipated, or something, because he just can’t relax and smile and enjoy himself. The only thing he’s any good at is griping – he is the best of the gripes (il est le meilleur de coliques)!

Voila!

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xxxxxx