A very sad week. The Cardinal hockey community was shocked by the death of Verd Anez. Verd was an assistant coach for the girls’ team during the four years his daughter, Michelle, starred, including the state championship year of ’07-08. And for the members of the Alexandria Golf Club, we lost Don Carlson, a great guy who for many years oversaw, supervised, planned, coordinated, and babysat the Tuesday morning senior men’s league.  We’ll miss him.

[Michelle and Verd Anez, Parent’s Night, December 2007.]

http://www.echopress.com/event/article/id/82002/

[Don and Mary Ann Carlson, August 2010.]

The girls’ hockey team, all of whom played for Coach Anez, then had to go on the road twice during the week to play two big city schools – they lost 6-1 at Hopkins and 3-1 at St. Cloud. They have one more game – at Moorhead next Tuesday – before the sections begin. The boys’ hockey team was also on the road this week and picked up a nice win at St. Cloud Apollo, 4-3.

We missed the boys’ basketball game this week. A home victory, 61-42, over Brainerd that evened their overall record to 7-7. It was in competition with our usual Thursday entertainment at SAWA, and the supervisor was up for an evening with the Salty Dogs. Erik Schultz, Tom Mulder, and Bill Riggs were at the top of their game, and a lovely evening was had by all.

Last night was my lone venture into live sports coverage for the week. The Cardinal girls’ basketball team was hosting their fellow Cardinals from Willmar. Willmar had recently ended Sartell’s undefeated season, so we were expecting a tough match up. The game induced such anticipation that Walleye Willie (see video) made his first appearance at a game this year. I saw Bill arrive and sit courtside with Martin Haar; so I left my usual nosebleed seat and went down to join them – Dusty joined us by game time. We also noticed Super Fans, the Hoymes and the Halversons, had their usual seats above us.

[“Capturing” the staff photographer “capturing” me.]

It was a unique game. Unbelievably, Willmar did not make a basket until there were 5 minutes left in the 1st half – a two-point basket, that is. And they only had two such in the entire half, and six for the entire game. They did, however, make 6 of 7 threes in the half, and I think at one point were 9 for 11 in the game, until they had to start firing them up from all over later in the game. The reason for that again was the Cards athleticism was dominant – the game was in hand early on. Our Cards led 43-29 at the half and cruised to a 70-49 win.

[My attempt to catch Sam winning the opening tip.]

[Lauren and Cara at the line; post-game.]

Alli Haar returned to action after missing two games with an ankle sprain. We were concerned she might be coming back too soon, but she looked fine. It was great to have her defense, passing, and rebounding back on the floor. The Trumm sisters, with their incredible quickness, led in scoring again. Lauren had 24 and Sam had 18. Lauren had 18 in the first half, almost all on lay-ups by blowing by her defender or in transition. And when Sam gets the ball in the post, she just spins by her defender for lay-ups. The Cards’ bigs – Sam, Alli, and Whitney – dominated the boards for a 53-23 rebound advantage.

[Alli in her moral support role in the previous game.]

The team’s record is now 16-2. With 5 of their remaining 6 games at home, they should be able to wrap up a great season. Their last two games – at Fergus and hosting Sartell – will be “revenge” games.

The band, Walleye Willie, and 2nd half warm-ups:

http://www.youtube.com/user/ruthobert#p/a/u/0/jqc0bMj6bRM

Yesterday, while places such as Houston and Tucson were enduring temperatures in the teens, the ole car thermometer was registering 35 here in Alex. Puddles and slush everywhere – the joys of a mid-winter thaw(?). [Can the golf season be far behind? Dusty said he saw Warren Gibson yesterday, and Warren said he won’t be golfing this year because of Rose’s health.] Next week, the temperatures will be seasonally back in the teens below zero making driving much easier!

And finally, for fellow U of M alums, last week saw the last days of Harvard Market – a place noted for providing easy access for dorm rats to stock up on such nutritional food items as 6-packs of Cokes, chocolate eclaires, and large bags of chips!