Monday, March 27, 2006

At least there's still hockey

I don't have actual records for this but I'm pretty damn sure this is the first time I have not had a single team in the final 4 for the NCAA basketball tournament. I barely had anyone in the Elite 8 (just 2).

Luckily for me, I can turn my attention to the NCAA hockey tournament also going on now but of course, unless you live in the upper midwest or northeast you probably didn't even realize there was such a thing as college hockey.

So far it's been a great postseason for Wisconsin. Yesterday the women's team won their first national championship with a 3-0 win over Minnesota. They were lead by freshman goalie sensation Jessie Vetter from nearby Monona Grove high school. Her dad is actually my insurance agent if you can believe that. Congrats.

On the men's side, after taking 3rd in the WCHA conference tournament the Badgers got a number 1 seed in their regional and after an easy first game against Bemidji State, they needed to go over 11 minutes into the 3rd overtime last night to beat Cornell 1-0. It was the 3rd straight postseason shutout for Badger goalie Brian Elliott. They now face Maine in the next game. The other 2 teams in the final 4 are Boston College and North Dakota. The next games start on April 6th and the championship is April 8th.

On the local level we had a tough game last night, playing once again against the former NCAA player who again had 4 goals against us. I think he's scored 16 in 3 games against us this year. Crazy. He's so fast I think he could give me a 50 yard headstart and catch me at 75. Anyway, we were down 5-4 with a couple minutes left and they took back to back penalties to give us a 5 on 3 power play. We also pulled our goalie to make it 6 on 3 and I swear we had 20 shots on goal in those last 2 minutes including my blast from the left face off dot that went 2 feet wide and ricocheted out of the zone. Just couldn't get one in to tie it up. I was beat by the time it ended.

Prior to playing I took advantage of a beautiful 50 degree day and went golfing for the first time. Played 9 at the local course. Shot a 47 with an up and down round. Nice to shake the rust off. The driver worked great consistently. Hit every fairway with it, including a 290 yard blast on the 7th hole. For some reason I was pull hooking my irons though so I was missing greens by 40 yards to the left. I had some really good chips too and 1 putted 6 times. I did however flub about 5 chips and 4 putted from 60 feet on the 2nd hole for an 8. I did par 2 holes and managed to birdie the one par 5 with driver, 3 wood and a gap wedge from 100 yards that spun back to 2 feet from the hole for an easy bird.

Funniest shot of the day was on the next hole. Short par 3 island green. Came up 2 feet short on my tee shot so I had to go to the drop area to hit my 3rd. I pulled up on my sand wedge and hit a low screamer across the green. I groaned as I saw it heading for the water on the other side. All of a sudden I see the ball sail into the air and I knew it had hit the low rock wall around the water and I figured it was going in. But then I realized it was actually coming back towards me! It came to rest about 20 feet from the cup. I still 3 putted for a 6 but it could have been worse!

Our weather has finally turned the corner I think so maybe this is the start of golfing every weekend for the next 7 months. Yay!

7 comments:

adubya said...

I bet. I figured it would be over before my game that didn't start till 8:30 but they didn't finish till our 2nd period. All the guys from the teams that played before us were gathered in the lobby watching the game. They let us know who won.

Rod said...

How can you have a 47 and hit every fairway and I have a 52 and hit every rough.

No traps and great chipping. Plus the greens were wonderful for putting.

Rod said...

Earl literally crawled off - I will always remember that scene LOL!!!

adubya said...

He's talking about badger hockey player Robbie Earl, not My Name is Earl... ya dork.

adubya said...

I can have a 47 because I pull hooked my irons 40 yards left of each green. I stubbed about 5 chips and 4 putted once.
And yet I still was 5 shots better than you...

adubya said...

that's because no one took George Mason

D said...

frakin' Defenders I tells ya!!!