The Sioux collapsed in the third period last night and lost to New Hampshire. It looked like they might finally get a series sweep this season, but no.
What I needed to cheer me up by weekend's conclusion would be losses by the two teams I actively cheer against. The Vikings, of course, came up little and lost at Denver. Boy, they sure can run the ball on offense and stop the run on defense, can't they? Riggggghhhhht.
Even more unimpressively, the Gopher hockey team failed to beat the two Atlantic Hockey cream puffs they invited to their own tournament; losing to Rochester
RIT, a third-year Division I program without scholarships, had never played a WCHA team before. Never played on an Olympic rink.
Speaking of the World Juniors, we can now look forward to weeks of the Gopher faithful blaming any sub-par play on "being tired from World Juniors." Gopher hockey players are the only youngsters I know who suffer from jet lag for six weeks. And while I was ready to joke that at least they won't use the "team hasn't been the same since Tyler Hirsch left" excuse this season, the Grand Forks Herald's Sioux hockey beat writer points out how much Okposo's production diminished with Hirsch gone. So let's leap to the logical conclusion: If Hirsch wouldn't have been kicked off the Gopher squad last year, Okposo would have had a better year. This would have given him more confidence to become an even better player and team leader this season, meaning he would have fully committed to playing his full sophomore season. I hear the Gopher fans already: You ruined one season of Gopher hockey and might just ruin a second one. Damn you, Tyler Hirsch!