Gopher Football
On this particular day, the day would start with Gopher football at 11:00 am with Michigan State, followed by back-to-back contests by the Gopher women’s and men’s hockey teams vs. Wisconsin at 4:00 and 7:00 pm, respectively. Each of the opponents was ranked, with the Spartan football team ranked #16, the Wisconsin men’s team tied for #15 in the nation, and the Wisconsin women’s team all alone at the top at #1.
Now, the optimist in every Gopher-clad fan would look at this day as a real opportunity to showcase the talent vs. some of the best competition in the nation that would lie ahead. Each of these games would provide an opportunity to knock of a ranked opponent, and, in the case of each of the hockey teams, give the hometown team a chance to knock off their chief rival in the process.
However, even those with the toughest stomachs for Gopher athletics right now would tell you that days like these seem like End Times for Minnesota.
There is no secret that the football team, one that many a fan will wax poetic about its six national titles and 18 Big Ten titles, has sunk back to the depths of the mid 1990s, when Jim Wacker’s teams would leave fans to discuss the betting line in order to seek positives. With a record of 1-8 (0-5 Big Ten) going into the game, even the most ardent supporter of the program couldn’t look at Saturday without thinking that the best possible scenario was that the Gophers would beat the spread, even though Michigan State had been crushed by Iowa just last week 37-6, thus eliminating their hopes for a national title. The line on the Gopher-Michigan State game: Spartans by 25.5.
The good news”¦Mission Accomplished. The bad news”¦Minnesota still lost by 23, falling to the Spartans, 31-8. The worse news”¦Minnesota was nearly a four-touchdown underdog in the first place. The worst news”¦apathy has set into a point that the guess here is that most fans of the team are so numb to the mounting losses that it just didn’t seem to matter much anymore.
Case-in-point”¦with five minutes remaining, a certain journalist sat in one of the U of M’s local establishments watching the game when the Big Ten Network decided it was more important to show the last 90 seconds of the Iowa-Indiana game here in Minnesota. Nobody, including the journalist, made much commotion about it. After all, it was a great finish (Iowa survived a scare from Indiana, beating the Hoosiers 18-13), and by this time, the journalist was too busy working his way through the early Sunday edition of the newspaper’s grocery store advertising anyways.
Gopher football taking a backseat to 3-for-1 specials on cereal and 40% off baked goods”¦it’s a harsh reality in today’s mixed up world.
Meanwhile, while the majority of Gopher fans depth charts go two or three deep, with football, men’s basketball and men’s hockey dominating the scene, one of the hidden gems of Minnesota athletics has been its women’s hockey program. First under the tutelage of Laura Halldorson and now Brad Frost, the Gopher women have consistently been near or at the top of whatever standings there may be, whether it’s WCHA or national rankings. This year has really been no exception, with the Gopher women coming into this weekend ranked #8 in the nation. That, coupled with a visit from the #1 ranked team in the nation, the hated Wisconsin Badgers, lined up to provide the well-rounded Gopher fan with a little solace from the football team’s struggles.
Or, maybe it didn’t. Minnesota, after defeating Wisconsin on Friday night 7-5, couldn’t muster anything against the Badgers, losing 5-0. Rumor has it that somehow, Wisconsin coach Mark Johnson tried to go for two on the last goal, because that’s what the coaching card said to do in that situation. But it wasn’t really possible”¦after all, it is hockey. And, contrary to some other Wisconsin coach who shall remain nameless, Johnson is well-respected among his peers and seems to be a genuinely nice guy. Plus, he’s got a gold medal from the 1980 Olympics, so we’ll give him a pass.
The optimist would point out that things aren’t so bad, considering the Gophers split with the #1 team in the nation. Not so fast. Minnesota picked the wrong day. They won on Friday, which lined them up against the Gopher men’s hockey team. The one that got dismantled 6-0 by the Wisconsin men’s team. They basically got cancelled out. And frankly, if you’re not one of the Big Three and you’re going to save the day, you’d better sweep somebody, because almost nobody is going to take notice if you don’t.
This left us with one hope on the day: the Golden Gopher men’s hockey team.
Minnesota’s “œPride on Ice” has been seemingly been skating on slush the past several years. Since going 31-10-3 en route to a WCHA championship during the 2006-2007 season, the Gophers have gone 59-53-18 in the past three plus years. Now, that’s not bad”¦if your hockey jersey doesn’t have a giant maroon and gold block “œM” on it. For comparison, it’s like saying that a baseball player is fast, for a catcher.
In any case, it’s not exactly the team you want to put all your hopes on. They might win, they might not”¦they may look good, they may look bad. In other words, they’re average. And in Minnesota, Gopher hockey should not be average.
However, for almost three periods, they looked like they might actually be the unlikely savior of the day. They skated hard, they skated fast. They looked like a team that was thumped 6-0 the night before, and wanted to prove a point. And then, just as the sun sets in the West (albeit one hour earlier now, mind you), the bottom fell out. With less than three minutes remaining and with the Gophers leading 3-2, Jordy Murray lit the lamp to tie the game. To no one’s surprise, it would be a Minnesota kid to ruin things again for the Gophers. (Murray attended Shattuck-St. Mary’s before heading to Madison) After both teams skated to a scoreless overtime period, our day (and fate) had been sealed”¦a draw.
Pucker up”¦it’s time to kiss your sister. Not the good looking one, either.
Looking back on the day, it had so much potential. There were chances in three different sports to knock off some of the best the Big Ten and WCHA conferences have to offer. There were chances to send their chief rivals a message that they were not going to lay idle while they pass Minnesota up in every sport. There was a chance to knock off a team that had just been crushed by their other chief rival in football last week. And yet, all we get out of the day were two blowouts and a freaking draw.
Such is life in Gold Country. Things will get better, eventually. In the mean time, we’ll have to rest easy knowing only that sirloins are only $3.99 a pound this week at the grocery store. But then again, if you followed Gopher sports on this day like a certain journalist did, you probably already knew that.