long, fun wet, day soon

I watched Ray last niight. Foxx did a very good job in imitating Ray Charles. It got a bit Freudian at the end. It almost seemed like a two and a half hour movie, but not quite. I was pleased and surprised at Curtis (tv's Moonlighting) Armstrong's Ahmet Ertgen.

Naturally the day I need to be outside, it will rain. The frozen four has some outside events and between games I'll have to walk (heck, we all will!) somewhere to get something decent to eat. The puck drops at two as defending champion Denver takes on Colorado College. At seven The University of North Dakota goes up against Minnesota. I say it's Gophers/Tigers in the finals. I've been wrong before.

I will say The Dispatch did a decent job in today's sports section in previewing the games. Look for a lot of empty seats though. I'm in 122, about fifteen rows behind the penalty box. It's on the deuce.

I see we're going to need passports to tarvel to canada by 2008. When will be need travel papers to go to Pennsylvania? Mansfield? Kroeger?

Long live Dashercam

It was a great show, too bad the games didn't live up to the buzz.

The teams are all fast. Lightning quick, with big defensemen who can play well and hit hard.

That said Denver kicked Colorado College's ass in 6-2 and good. Both teams came out flying out. The Tigers were outshooting Denver the whole game. Too bad C.C. kept taking stupid penalties all night, resulting in SIX Pioneer power play goals.

I'm still trying to figure out what the hell Denver's mascot is.

ESPN brought out dashercam. A special camera rigged on top of the glass between the bluelines. It was in front of us. At times, out of the corner of my eye, I kept thinking I was seeing the goalie come out of the net. But it was only dashercam, trailing.

In the first period there was a hard hit right under dashercam and dashercam went down. It's camera was moving up and down, writhing, as if it were in pain.

Maybe you had to be there.

In the first game, niether team for whatever reason brought a band. A shame.

Between games I latched on to some hockey friends and walked to Damon's, where everyone's dinner was paid for by a member of our group. Damn nice of him.

explosivo, email me your address.

Walking into the arena for the second game I could feel the intensity level increase. Why? Both teams brought bands, and they were dueling and it was awesome. Also. The Fighting Sioux brought cheerleaders, who skated on the ice carrying large flags bearing the letters UND. Very cool.

Then the Minnesota cheerleaders came out. A dozen figure skaters. It was ice capades out there. People poo-pooh cheerleaders at hockey game. Nuh-uh. I wanted to switch allegiances.

I met the guy I sold the tickets to, nice kid from Xenia. When I got to my seat for the second game, he'd been replaced by an older gentleman. It seems the ticket went through the hands of a scalper, then J, who bought the ticket outside between games.

Commerce.

Sitting a couple of seats from me is the guy who gave me a ride to Detriot in '98 for the CCHA finals. I didn't recognize him. I apologized profusely and told him I was having a nervous breakdown at that time. Two seats from me is a woman with the same last name as me. No relation. I saw Jody Shelley, Kevin Dineen and a number of Blue Jacket players. in the section next to us. Also the coach of Boston College and Archie Griffin were making the rounds,

Haven't seen any OSU players or coaches.

With both bands going, the fans were rocking. The first five minutes of game two were as electric as any game I've ever seen. The Sioux were fearless, and unintimidated. They easily beat the Gophers 4-2.

OSU is doing a great job hosting the tournament. The Schott has never looked better. It's nice to hear opposing fans say what a nice facility it is. I was impressed at the attendance. The place was as packed as I've ever seen it. Lot's of fans from all four teams filling up the corners and the rest of the sections were packed with fans from all leagues. I saw a lot of jerseys from teams representing about 90 percent of NCAA D-1 hockey.

Hobey Baker presentation tomorrow afternoon at Nationwide Arena.

It's fun, and it's what college hockey is all about.