ESPN Page 2 - MN Sports Orgy

[St. Clown]

So this writer was in MN last weekend for the US Pond Hockey Championships, which is always coincides with Hockey Day Minnesota. Click the link, it's a fun read about hockey, curling, the Hell that is being a Vikings fan, and the people that make it all happen.

Hot times in the frozen north

Minnesota in late January. Probably a tough sell for the state tourism bureau.

But if the weekend I just spent there is any indication, there's no better place for a sports fan to be, and no better time to be there.

It all started a few months ago when I decided to cover the U.S. Pond Hockey Championships, an annual event I've always wanted to check out: 256 teams, over 1,500 players from 37 states, all playing on 25 rinks set up on a frozen lake in Minneapolis. Granted, taking an assignment to work outside during a Minnesota winter might not be the brightest idea in the world (temperatures for last year's tournament were about 20 below zero), but I decided not to worry about that.

As it turned out, the weather did present some challenges, but not the ones I expected. And pond hockey was just the tip of my sports weekend iceberg. Here's how it went down:

Saturday, 5 p.m.: Little-known fact: Hockey can be played indoors. The proof is right in front of me at the University of Minnesota's Mariucci Arena, where the Golden Gophers are playing their regional rivals St. Cloud State.

 

[MinnesotaNorthStar]

Re: ESPN Page 2 - MN Sports Orgy

So this writer was in MN last weekend for the US Pond Hockey Championships, which is always coincides with Hockey Day Minnesota. Click the link, it's a fun read about hockey, curling, the Hell that is being a Vikings fan, and the people that make it all happen.

Hot times in the frozen north

Mankato and Duluth are "regional rivals" for Minnesota too...congratulations.

 

[St. Clown]

Re: ESPN Page 2 - MN Sports Orgy

Mankato and Duluth are "regional rivals" for Minnesota too...congratulations.

Anytime you mention one of the nearby teams as any sort of rival for the Gophers, watch them Gopher fans pop up out of their holes to tell you how much team X is not a rival. It's just fun. Then have a Sports Illustrated columnist say it, and we may have lost a fan or two to heart attack last night.

 

[Bakunin]

Re: ESPN Page 2 - MN Sports Orgy

Sports Illustrated is hardly an authority on college hockey or its rivalries. That's like saying something uttered by Melrose during the F4 about the game is gospel.

 

[St. Clown]

Re: ESPN Page 2 - MN Sports Orgy

Sports Illustrated is hardly an authority on college hockey or its rivalries. That's like saying something uttered by Melrose during the F4 about the game is gospel.

I'm well aware, however it's been written on a heavily trafficked site, so now people in Mississippi, Oklahomo, and other parts unknown will not know the difference.

Besides that, very little of the article is about his college hockey experience, most of it's about the unskilled amateur side of MN sports - sort of like Mankato State...losing to Tech last night.

 

[Bakunin]

Re: ESPN Page 2 - MN Sports Orgy

They don't know the difference whether or not they read the article. They probably don't even know what hockey is down there.

 

[Greyeagle]

Re: ESPN Page 2 - MN Sports Orgy

So this has nothing to do with Al & Alma's?

 

[St. Clown]

Re: ESPN Page 2 - MN Sports Orgy

So this has nothing to do with Al & Alma's?

Close. that was the MN Boat Orgy. A single word make a world of difference.

 

[Handyman]

Re: ESPN Page 2 - MN Sports Orgy

Anytime you mention one of the nearby teams as any sort of rival for the Gophers, watch them Gopher fans pop up out of their holes to tell you how much team X is not a rival. It's just fun. Then have a Sports Illustrated columnist say it, and we may have lost a fan or two to heart attack last night.

What year are you living in? This hasnt been the case since about 2002.

Plus of course you are a regional rival...just not an important one