Josh is thinking Arby’s (after he has a Wild burger at Wendy’s, I’m sure).

That was the poster the Wild handed out to fans leaving the X last night after the 3-2 overtime thriller versus Colorado. I caught the game in person after getting back from spring break on the train in the morning.

Some observations:

• We got to see all five goals at our end of the rink.
• Three shots on goal in the second was pathetic.
• Why can’t Skoula be physically more aggressive when he plays? So tentative…
• Koivu face-off wins top 70% tonight (Shep was 80% and Demitra over 50% too).
• Butch’s fight from the last game must have rattled him a little – he seemed to lose his puck-handling touch most of the night.
• Loved the starting line – Boogey with Gabby and Demo.
• It was hard to tell if Voros was playing at the start – under 7 minutes of total ice time.
• Johnsson almost hit 30 minutes with 34 shifts. Bet he misses Foster the most.

Next game: Thursday night versus Calgary at home for fan appreciation night.

Made it back yesterday. Overall, we had a very nice, relaxing and unique trip. Also realized this trip completes #25 of my things to do list: Ride a train across the Rockies.

Picking up from the last post, kid two participated in an all-day beginning Mountain Riders class on Friday, while kid one and I skied together all day. I got to ride the two new lifts I hadn’t been on (the triple and the T-bar) and both the snow and the weather were great.

My uncle came back from Spokane on Friday evening and we went to dinner with him at the St. Bernard’s Pub. This on-mountain restaurant has been there since the 60s and the inside decor has not changed much since then (it was awesome). I had a really good hot turkey sandwich that was a little different: thick bread, garlic spread, turkey, cheese and gravy with thin cut Idaho french fries on the side.

We all hung out at the condo until it was time to drive down the mountain to the train station. It was snowing pretty hard again (they were expecting another nine inches of new snow overnight) and the road to Sandpoint was treacherous. The train was only a few minutes late arriving and we made it with plenty of time to spare.

The ride back was less stressful, as we knew what to expect. It snowed all the way to the Minnesota/North Dakota border, so the views weren’t quite as good as the westbound journey. The train was packed and we were told they were sold-out for the next five days. There were switching problems in Montana, so we arrived in St. Paul about two and a half hours late.

More pictures have been uploaded to the photo gallery (Travel/Empire Builder and Private/Spring Break 08). Please contact me if you need the password for the private section.

Just got off the train from my spring break trip and watched the DVR recording of the 4-0 shutout from Friday. Why do I keep missing the best games of the year?

A few thoughts:

• So happy to see the Wild get a big lead and hold it.
• The score could have easily been 7-0 with Gabby’s two break-aways and Kimmy’s post in the third.
• How about that Burnsie kid? I think he got one penalty minute for each of his rapid-fire punches. Classic.
• The Hill check of Cowan into the bench was classic too.
• That hardly qualified as a fight for Butch, but if it gets another Canucks player suspended by the league, I’ll call it a fight.
• I almost felt bad for Luongo – he should have stayed with his wife.
• Another awesome face-off night for Koivu – 65% (starting to sound like a broken record).
• Good Marty likes shutouts – no chance of a minus night (he played even with one hit in 19:18 of ice time).

Up next: the Avs play the Wild at the X later this afternoon in a game where one point gets the Wild into the playoffs (per Russo).

Still out of town, but got to “watch” the play-by-play on my iPhone using the NHL’s cool real-time scoring option.

Not much to add to all of the commentary I read online, just glad they are back in first place for the time being.

Bring on the Sedin sisters!

I’ve been coming to Schweitzer Basin since I was nine. The resort has changed a ton since then. In fact, it’s changed since I was here two years ago. Venerable chair one has been replaced with two new lifts: a high-speed detachable quad that goes to Midway and a fixed triple over Face to the top. It remains a great, relatively undiscovered ski area with lots of great terrain and few crowds.

After arriving a little after midnight on Monday at the Sandpoint train station, my uncle Greg from Spokane picked us up and drove us to his condo on the mountain. On Tuesday morning, he skied with kid one, while I took kid two on the bunny hill. About 400 feet down, kid two fell and strained her knee. She totally wanted to quit, but I got her to ski between my legs to the bottom of the hill. We did four more runs that way before meeting the others for lunch.

After lunch, those two took off and we tried Happy Trails again. Another fall and things got worse. Kid two limped back to the car, dropped off the skis and hobbled to the ski patrol office. Ice, Advil and no more skiing for the day was the diagnosis. We sat in the lodge while the others skied.

On Wednesday, the wonderful staff at the Kinder Kamp agreed to take kid two for the day, even though she was now too old to go there. So Greg, kid one and I got to ski together all day. It pretty much snowed all day (about 4 inches), which gave me my first ever ice beard. We had lunch at the Outback Inn, which uncharacteristically had seating available inside. The Idaho potatoes they serve there are to die for.

The snow yesterday was awesome. The temperature stayed around freezing, but the snow felt wet when it hit you. Once on the ground, though, it stayed pretty light. 3-4 inches of soft snow on top of groomed corduroy is skiing nirvana for this old guy. Sundance and JR (kid one’s first true black diamonds), along with G-3 and Revenge on the Colburn side were my favorite runs of the day.

Today, kid one joined the Mountain Riders–instructor-led groups for kids too old for Kinder Kamp. Dave the instructor led the three Riders all over the mountain, including the new T-bar (which I still haven’t been on). The new snow was knee-deep today (12 inches overnight) and the sun made a brief appearance around lunchtime. Medium-strength wind all day, though.

Kid two and I hung out in the village all day. In the morning, we did some shopping, purchased internet access for the day, uploaded a bunch of photos and had lunch at the Chimney Rock restaurant (taking a break from the cafeteria food). In the afternoon, the kid watched a movie on the laptop while I read a bit of the Ed Viesturs book my friend Jake lent me.

Now we are about to head back to the condo, make dinner, then start getting ready for the return train ride late Friday night (we actually leave at around 2:30am Saturday morning). Depending on the weather (and the knee), we should have one more day of skiing tomorrow too.

This year I decided to take the kids on a new adventure for spring break–riding the Amtrak Empire Builder train to Sandpoint, Idaho.

The last time I rode Amtrak was when they still had a train between the Twin Cities and Duluth. This one was very different–top speed of 79mph and a coach capacity of 266 people (which I think we actually had).

The Empire Builder runs between Chicago and Seattle, leaving St. Paul around 11:30pm and arriving in Sandpoint 22 stops and about 26 hours later.

Yeah, that was a really long time, but overall it was enjoyable. In fact, it would probably be my favorite way to travel if we had booked a sleeper room with an electrical outlet instead of coach. Our seats actually did have an outlet, but in a cruel twist of fate, it was partially blocked by the immovable seats in front of us.

The uncertainty of doing something for the first time led to a lot of stress. I wasn’t sure about the luggage (no checked baggage to Sandpoint and a weird ski bag rule), didn’t know much about the on-board food options and was afraid I’d miss getting off the train in the middle of the night.

The baggage went fine, food options were varied (although I’d bring more of our own stuff next time) and the conductor took care of getting us off the train at the right time. We were about 45 minutes late, but in general, I thought it was a good operation.

North Dakota and eastern Montana were just as you’d expect. In fact, I think this is where all old American cars and trucks go to die. The scenery improved immensely at Glacier, but that was also when the sun went down.

Up next: skiing adventures at Schweitzer Mountain Resort

Photo Galleries

This week I am on the road for spring break and will have limited posts, as the only Internet access I have is on my phone (I sound like Russo).

One quick note, though. I was riding the train west just south of Edmonton yesterday night and I could just feel the bad vibes coming from Canada when I read Butch and Demitra were out.

The final score didn’t surprise me, but it’s still disappointing…

All times central, the way the State of Hockey likes it…

Is it the cool fire effect that shoots down from the ceiling? How about the fire that seems to fly from Jerome Iginla’s stick? I’d trade just about anyone on the team to get that particular Wild-Killer wearing Iron Range Red.

Thoughts from the game:

• Our goaltenders concern me more than the lack of depth at center. Backs still lets in the softies and Harding isn’t a reliable backup this year.
• I like the physical presence the enforcers bring to the game. We are now tougher, but need to get some help in net (the offensive problems seem to be getting better).
• Congrats to Benny for number 1 and number 2. Too bad he couldn’t pull off the trick too. Same for Kimmy.
• Good face off night for Koivu (61%), but the rest of the team was horrible.
• Marty, Marty, Marty. Not one of his better recent games. Only -1 in a 5 goal game, though.
• He may be a jerk, but what a night for Phaneuf–one goal, two assists, +4 with 31:02 of ice time. Impressive. Any other night and that would get you the first star.

Next up: Wild versus the Oilers in Edmonton, Monday at 8:30pm (local TV – FSN North)

Congratulations to the Denver Pioneers for stopping the Gophers improbable streak to take the WCHA Final Five title.

What a game Denver goalie Peter Mannino played–thank goodness he’s a senior.

Anxious to see the NCAA seeds tomorrow. Also noticed the Frozen Four will be at the X in 2011. Wouldn’t it be great if Kangas was still here to play his senior year and win a national championship in St. Paul? Yeah, right…

Nice to have TV hockey overload for Friday’s snow day. I watched the surprising UND loss to Denver in the afternoon game, followed by the Gopher’s overtime win versus the regular-season champs, Colorado College. Turning the channel to KSTC, I watched the first part of the Wild game in Vancouver before setting the DVR to record the second and third periods. And it starts all over again today too!

A few notes from Friday:

• The Gophers seem to have endless energy. The Wild should hire their strength trainer.
• Anxious to see how the NCAA hockey seedings shake out.
• While watching the Wild recording, I kept waiting for the late tying goal. Nice to shake off that monkey.
• Simon tops Gaborik in faceoff wins stat: Simon – 100% (1-1), Gabby 0% (0-1).
• Demitra needs to get better at face-offs down the stretch (Bennie – 67%, Koivu – 52%, Shep – 45%, Pavol – 27%).
• Benny played well, 19 shifts for 9:47, including key late shifts again.
• Johnsson got to play workhorse for the missing Foster – 31 shifts for 25:18.
• A plus game for Skoula, who only had 17:40 of ice time.

Today: Gophers play Denver for the WCHA title and Wild at Calgary.

What a start to the Final Five, eh? With 54 seconds left in regulation and the face-off in the Gophers end, I figured it would be yet another OT and went to tuck my kids into bed.

Oops!

The Gophers quick early goal seemed to take the excitement out of this game early–at least compared to last weekend in Mankato. I was only half-watching most of the first two periods, but things really seemed to pick up in the third. That poke check by Kangas on the breakaway was sweet, as was the winning goal (that I missed when it happened live).

You have to wonder when the Gophers will run out of gas, but that wasn’t a problem tonight. I now wish I had purchased the WCHA ticket package this year. Tomorrow’s games will be fun: UND vs. Denver at 2:07pm and the Gophers vs. CC at 7:07pm.

Tough to stay up for these late games, eh? Thoughts on this non-HD game with my very favorite announcers:

• Mr. Leopold’s first act as new owner should be to re-sign Gabby for the rest of his career.
• Great fight between Boogey and Shelley – although it didn’t seem to pump up the Wild.
• Lots of falling by Skoula tonight (although the 4-on-1 seemed like a trip to me).
• Quit with the softies, Backs, it’s killing us.
• Always hated the icing touch-up rule in the pros. Get well Fozzie!
• Three on three was sweet – how about 20 minutes of that for OT instead of the shoot out?

On to beautiful Vancouver…

While browsing for kid books the other day at Barnes and Noble in Eagan, I came across this three-book series by Gordon Korman about Mount Everest. I pushed my oldest to read them quickly so Dad could have a turn.

Being a huge fan of the mountain, I enjoyed this fictional account of the “SummitQuest” expedition. As Scholastic describes it:

They come from all across America to be the youngest kid ever to climb Everest. But only one will reach the top first. The competition is fierce. The preparation is intense. When the final four reach the higher peaks, disaster strikes — and all that separates the living from the dead is chance, bravery, and action.

Fun for young and old.

Everest Books on Amazon

The whole family decided to come along to the North Shore for a quick overnight weekend trip last week (while I attended the Richard Thompson concert at Lutsen).

We left Saturday morning and stopped at Toby’s in Hinckley for some donuts and caramel rolls. Straight shot from there to Gooseberry Falls State Park, which was just spectacular with sunny, blue skies and incredible ice formations around the falls. We spent a lot of time there hiking and taking pictures (links below to the photo galleries).

From Gooseberry, we drove all the way to Grand Marais to get a late lunch at Sven and Ole’s Pizza. Tried a sausage and pepperoni thin crust for the first time (tasty) and kid two lost a tooth eating her cheese pizza. Lots of people in town for this time of year–the jewelry store and Ben Franklin both had lots of people in them.

After lunch, we drove down the Croftville Road and took some coastline and cabin shots. The ice along the big lake is so cool to look at (literally).

We drove back to Tofte and checked in at the AmericInn, where the kids spent the evening and next morning in the pool swimming. We all slept in Sunday morning, then drove to Beaver Bay after the last swim session, eating lunch at the Yellow Wolf Cafe and stopping for desert at Betty’s Pies. I had a walleye sandwich at the Yellow Wolf, which had to be the largest walleye fillet I’ve ever seen. Recommended.

On the way through Duluth, we drove to Canal Park, across the Lift Bridge and back again. Saw lots of restaurants, shops and buildings we hadn’t seen before, including the new Hell’s Kitchen on Lake Avenue (looked awesome). One final stop in North Branch at the Outlet Mall before we got back home in time for the Gophers hockey game.

North Shore Photo Gallery
Private Up North 2008 Gallery

I sent our little leprechauns with my wife for the St. Patrick’s Day showdown between the Wild and the Avs yesterday, so I watched the game on Versus in HD (the way hockey was meant to be watched when you can’t be there).

Thoughts from this game:

• Koivu was 68% on face offs, followed by Demitra at 62%, Shep at 50% and Benny at 43%.
• Welcome back Boogey! Six shifts for 2:29 of ice time.
• Skoula’s keep at the blue line led to the Branko goal from Burns. You go Good Marty!
• Glad Branko finally scored–I was beginning to think he didn’t know where the net was.
• 30 hits by the Wild, including some decent ones by Gabby.
• Benny played 14 shifts for 8:05, including some very late in the game.

Calgary at Columbus tonight should be interesting. Hopefully the Kings can tire out the Sharks enough tonight before the Wild play them tomorrow. Go Lubo!

This weekend I left town to attend a concert in Lutsen, but wow was there some great Minnesota hockey played:

• Gophers vs. Mavericks goes three games (three OT games–two go to double OT)
• WCHA Frozen Five set: Gophers vs. Huskies Thursday night, Denver, CC and UND
• Wild snap the losing streak beating the Kings on Saturday night
• UMD women advance to Frozen Four (with Harvard, Wisconsin and New Hampshire)

Speaking of the women’s Frozen Four, why has this not been promoted more? It will be held this Thursday and Saturday (March 20 and 22) at the DECC in Duluth. If you are in the area, get tickets and check out an exciting NCAA championship in person.

Let’s see, what else…

The hockey coverage in the Duluth newspaper was awesome–stories all over the sports section. Got home in time to watch most of the very exciting Gophers game. Kangas looked great all weekend. The NHL’s Northwest Division is everything we expected–Calgary wins to pull even with the Wild and the Avs. Looks like Foppa and Foote will participate in the St. Patrick’s Day showdown tomorrow. Fun times for Minnesota hockey fans.

There are very few artists I will travel out of town to see, but Richard Thompson is definitely one of them. When I saw he was playing the very small Papa Charlie’s Tavern and Stage in Lutsen, I ordered my ticket and booked a room for Saturday night.

I’ve been to the Papa Charlie’s restaurant before, but had never seen a show there. The ticket said doors at 8pm and I arrived a little after 7:30. Walked right in without showing my ticket and couldn’t figure out how they were going to set up the place. I ended up talking to what I think was the venue manager and he had me turn in my ticket for a wristband and said the small area in front of the stage would be standing room only, with some bar stool chairs along the back wall.

Once I knew the lay of the land, I camped out on the edge of the stage (stage right, about four feet from the mic). The sunken area in front of the stage is barely big enough for a ping pong table (which was actually what was there when I first arrived). A crowd of between 350-400 (per the manager) filled in behind me and we were ready to go at 9pm, when the stage manager turned down the lights.

Unfortunately, they came back up a few minutes later and they announced the show would start at 9:30 instead. Once he took the stage, this is what we got to hear:

• Bathsheba Smiles
• Walking on a Wire
• Crawl Back (Under My Stone)
• Down Where the Drunkards Roll
• Dad’s Gonna Kill Me
• The Hots for the Smarts
• I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight
• Sunset Song
• 1952 Vincent Black Lightning
• How Will I Ever Be Simple Again
• Cooksferry Queen
• Persuasion
• I Feel So Good
• Genesis Hall
• Johnny’s Far Away
• Pharaoh
• Valerie

First Encore:

• Beeswing
• Wall of Death

Second Encore:

• I Misunderstood

I enjoyed the show a lot and just kept staring at his hands for most of the show. Just amazing finger work, with the highlight probably being the solo towards the end of Valerie that closed out the 90-minute main set. I was happy with the song selection–Bad Monkey from the new album being the only song he didn’t play that I would have liked to hear (maybe the next electric show?).

His between song banter was in the usual Richard Thompson style, with my favorite line being “I’ve never been this far away from civilization before.” I brought a paper notebook with to record the set list (“for those of you taking notes”) and got one good shot with my iPhone (see above). The crowd was very receptive the whole night–I’d guess it was about half “true” fans and half skiers looking for some apres-ski entertainment.

Fun, fun time. Thank you Mr. Thompson!

Wow, what a game in Mankato! Too bad my DVR cut off the second overtime…

To be honest, I haven’t watched the Gophers much this year. The last game I went to was the Frozen Five final versus North Dakota last year (one for the ages) and we passed up on tickets this year. Congrats to Minnesota State Mankato for overcoming the long losing streak. Can’t wait for the game tomorrow–I’ll make sure to record at least an extra hour this time.

My wife’s first college, St. Cloud State, beat her second school, Wisconsin, 3-0 in St. Cloud. And the Bulldogs lost in Denver 6-3. Not sure who I’m rooting for this year, but I’m guessing my first college, UND, will probably avenge that OT loss from last year…

Got to the game late tonight due to a family event, so I missed the first period and the Wild’s two goals. The Devils came storming back and tied it before Brodeur gave up a pretty goal from Koivu to Gaborik right at the end of the second period. Devils tie it in the third, Brodeur stands on his head and the Wild lose again in a shootout.

My intent with this site is not to summarize the game in detail or write long opinions (there are plenty of other places for that). I plan to just write short, concise thoughts or observations from each game that I hope people will find interesting to read. So, without further ado, here are my thoughts from this game:

• Like Coach Lemaire said after the game, the difference was Brodeur–he was a lot of fun to watch.
• Didn’t know said wonder-goalie’s wife divorced him after he had an affair with his sister-in-law. Ouch.
• Burns looked awful at the start of overtime when we had 1:08 of 4 on 3.
• Lots of Devils jerseys in the stands tonight supporting the players from Minnesota (Parise, Langenbrunner and Martin)
• Still a wide-open division with Atlanta’s surprise third period over Calgary, the lowly Kings beating Nashville and Phoenix winning over the Canucks. Colorado is the new kid to worry about (even without Foppa and Ryan “Cry Me A River” Smyth).
• Wild get two points out of two tough playoff-bound teams when I expected zero.
• Don’t know how to solve the shoot-out problem with Backstrom, although he got no help from our shooters tonight either. Facing Brodeur in a shoot-out, though, is almost like an automatic forfeit anyway.
• Our newest center from Houston, Steve Kelly, got hurt in the second and didn’t return. Benny is on his way to Minnesota now–that should be interesting to watch.
• Tonight was the fourth and final puck giveaway (pictured above).

Next game: Los Angeles Kings here on Saturday night, no local TV (HD Net only)

Finally decided to just launch the damn thing tonight. Hockey posts I used to write here will now be on the new site (just like what happened with golf before).

Thoughts and opinions on Minnesota high school, collegiate and Wild hockey, plus whatever else I find time for before the season ends…

The issues the Wild have at center have been discussed ad nauseum around the web. Here are some interesting stats, though, regarding centers and face-off percentages (through today):

• Walz, 135 face-offs, 45.92% win percentage
• Sheppard, 559, 41.86%
• Demitra, 757, 45.04%
• Koivu, 784, 50.76%
• Belanger, 1116, 49.19%

With the first and last now out, I guess Koivu needs to play about 30 minutes a game, eh?

Oh, and Wild/NHL management–why is it so hard to find stats like this?

Spotted on I-35E this morning.

Wisconsin rulez…

Never seen a laptop screen get messed up quite like this one. Not sure what she did with it, but this HSRA laptop needs some serious screen replacement…

My favorite annual issue of Golfweek magazine arrived this week–the rankings edition.

As usual, they divide the top 100 course rankings into two listings: the classics (before 1960) and the modern (1960 – present).

Minnesota had four courses on the classic list (previous year’s ranking in parentheses):

#46 (43), White Bear Yacht Club, 7.30
#51 (57), Interlachen Country Club, 7.27
#71 (77), The Minikahda Club, 6.94
#87 (86), Northland Country Club, 6.79

The number one classic course was again Cypress Point Club in Pebble Beach, with a score of 9.59.

On the modern side, only one Minnesota course made the list:

#64 (45), Hazeltine National Golf Club, 6.99

Sand Hills Golf Club in Mullen, Nebraska, was again the number one modern course, with a score of 9.40.

Golfweek also compiled a list of top daily-fee and resort courses by state (with no scores listed). Here is the Minnesota list:

#1, Giant’s Ridge (Quarry)
#2, Deacon’s Lodge
#3, Wilderness at Fortune Bay
#4, StoneRidge
#5, Dacotah Ridge
#6, Legends Club
#7, Classic at Madden’s Lake (sic)
#8, The Wilds
#9, The Preserve at Grand View Lodge
#10, Chaska Town Course