Hockey!

Last time we looked at the hockey team, they had just beaten the fifth-ranked Michigan State Spartans to a pulp, making up for their own three-goal loss the night before. After that, the team rattled off seven straight wins, including another victory over the Spartans, before bookending November with another loss, this time to top-ranked Minnesota.

There's a lot of good stuff to see from this November. The only two losses we took were to top-5 teams, while beating a #5 team and a #6 team. Granted, both of those ranked teams were MSU, but they've had our number for a while. I'm really happy about the 2-1 win from a couple weeks ago. That's the kind of score Sauer hadn't given us until then. If we'd scored less than three, we'd always lost.

Almost as nice is seeing the Wolverines take care of business when it comes to teams they should beat. We always seem to give one away up in Big Rapids to an overmatched Ferris State, but we came home on the right side of a 3-2 score this year and with the sweep.

Earning a split (aka "Not getting swept") in the College Hockey Showcase is another thing to be proud of. Wisconsin had them down 3-2 going into the third, but Rohlfs and Cogliano scored and got the victory. Wiconsin's been on a skid as of late, but playing at Anchorage and against Denver and Minnesota in successive weekends will do that to you, so this was a good win to get in Madison. However, the team got absolutely de-pantsed by yet another Gopher squad. I mean obliterated, 8-2, with a 5-goal third period making it into a rout. That just makes you ill when you see it.

We've got Western up this weekend, bottom-feeding again in the CCHA, so it's time to take care of a little business there. The Black Hole is a tough building to play in, but we should be able to managae. The weekend after, we have another home-and-home, this time against a Notre Dame team having a shockingly good season, floating just above the maize and blue in the polls. Their success looks to be built on not letting anyone into the net. In fact, it looks like there's not a lot of shooting going on, period, in their games. Are they running the trap? Anyway, I think I'm going to make it to the home half of that series, so I'd better find a way to get some student section tickets.