[A gift from the band, hewn, according to Lynn Trelstad, from a rare, for North Dakota, birch tree, as I understood him?  There are 6 commas in that sentence – well beyond the bounds of responsible journalism!]

[Friday night was the girls’ hockey annual burger and chili feed fundraiser at the Eagles’.  In the past, it has generally been famous for how many things the supervisor buys at the silent auction.  Forward Melissa Drown, in the orange t-shirt, oversees her mom, Denise, and Sara Illies (Becca’s mom) manning (momming?) the ticket sales table.]

[The varsity mans (?) the serving line.  I’m not completely sure, but from l-r it looks like Anna Carlsen, Shanee’ Herd, Taylor Ellingson, ? , McKenzie Revering, and Shelby Iverson.  And the customer on the far left side is Pat Perkins, a/k/a, Hanah Hansen’s great grandma and John Hawkes’ mom.]

[The silent auction tables . . . ]

[Can you spot the supervisor among the bidders?]

[We had to leave the hockey fundraiser before it was over – and before the supervisor could learn whether she’d garnered any booty – because the girls’ basketball team was hosting Fergus Falls, a conference rival and the state’s No. 1-ranked class AAA team.  Kohler visits with the Otter coach above.]

[“The Voices” doing their pre-broadcast preparations.  The game went as expected – the Otters proved to be too good and way too big in a 55-39 game.  From a positive standpoint for the Cardinals, they managed to play the Otters evenly in the 2nd half.]

[The color guy is beside himself with excitement.  😉 ]

[“The competition” has access to shooting positions beyond the scope of those available to the cub reporter.]

[“Baby Bruiser” (15) warms the ole shooting wing . . . ]

[As does Jaylen (I believe?).]

[The family Cunniff and Cardinal sports go together like a horse and carriage.]

[Currently well-known as Coaches Hatlestad and Kohler, respectively; will ultimately become better known as the mothers of Macy and Kendall!  😉 ]

[Amanda C warms, above and below.]

[Amanda G warms, above and below.]

[Here’s an oddity for you.  Two guards in the opening center jump – the Otters’ Brianna Rasmussen, 5’11” (I believe) and the Cards’  Amanda C, 5’10.”   They also go at each other in volleyball.]

[Rasmussen is likely the best player in the conference – and certainly among the best in the state.  A 5’11” point guard with 3-point shooting range, I think she’s a D-1 prospect.  Volleyball fans thinks she’s trending their way.  😉 ]

[Karly went toe-to-toe with Rasmussen the whole game, despite giving up 6″ according to the program – looked like 10″ when they were on the court together.  Karly often came out of the trees underneath with rebounds!  🙂 ]

[The Fergus center was listed at 6’2″ – but she had more than an inch on the 6’1″ Kalli?  They also had a big 6’1″ forward.  We were giving up a lot in size and strength, player by player.]

[Nevertheless, Karly kept leading the charge of the light brigade.]

[I dunno, Dave.  How do you teach height?]

[I believe the consensus is that it’s too cold for the DQ tonight.]

[The referee is allegedly the offspring of a member of the Fat Boys Walking Club!]

[These proved to be a problem . . . ]

[We had a good strategy of getting the ball inside to Kalli – she would either score or get their “bigs” in foul trouble.  And it worked, to a degree.  I think Kalli had 16 points – and “The Voices” chose her as player-of-the-game – but she had a tough time at the free throw line.  She may have pitched a shutout there.  The Fergus fans around us noted that the Cards would have made a game of it if they could make free throws.]

[Even ole automatic wasn’t perfect.]

[We’ll wrap up this puppy with a free throw that appears to have gone in.  I don’t think Fergus is as good as they were last year (I thought they had a great chance to be state champs), but they are the team to beat in the section.]

Saturday was Hockey Day Minnesota – continuous coverage of games, beginning at 10:00 A.M., always includes three high school games that every year are played outside, on lakes, like the good ole days.  The high school games this year were played on Pokegama Lake in Grand Rapids, in blizzard-like conditions (note the photo below “on loan” from Sunday’s Minneapolis StarTribune (1-20-12)!)  😉

We spent four hours at the winery Saturday afternoon “warming up” for the girls’ hockey game that night.  [Editor’s note:  Unfortunately, it was also the day that Stan Musial, my first ever sports hero, died.  😦 ]  Tucker’d Out from Fargo was the music talent.  They generally only make annual appearances here, during The Grape Stomp – so it was a nice mid-winter treat.

In the YouTube video (below), John Trelstad introduces, then performs, their only original song (“so far”) about the Fargo-Moorhead flood of ’09.  This is a neighborhood story – and you’ll recall for weeks the national news highlighted the cities’ battles against the rising water.  We love the song – it’s on their Lucky Break CD:

“The Flood of ’09”:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YwK0ytiAzg

And there are six other videos scattered among the photos!

When we visited between sets, John asked what we did.  I said I used to work for the Department of Labor.  He asked, “For Robert Reich?”  “Yes, and our championship softball team had a photo op with him.”  🙂

[In my late 40’s, the svelte, athletic, haired guy 2nd from the right.]

[And shaking the Secretary’s hand.]

[Ryan Haug, John Trelstad, and Lynn Trelstad are Tucker’d Out.]

“Galway Girl”:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okDa2mMoHaM

“The Dancer”:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaT3QwuCrdU

“One Drop of Rain”:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_pzys5B_bw

[Annie O’Flynn joined the boys for a couple of songs at the end.  🙂 ]

“The Ace”:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz4mbBCCWOA

“The Cape”:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPoJBqJNpk4

“Galway Girl” w/ Annie:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vs-Ra8U3rE

[Then it was on to the RCC where the girls’ hockey team was playing another one of those consortiums – this time North Wright County, which was drawing from a population base larger than the Rock Island-Bettendorf-Davenport-Moline-East Moline Metroplex!  The game was closer than the scoreboard indicates, which will be explained as we go along.]

[Didn’t we just see him?]

[And the guy he works with (who hammed it up for the camera)?  I have to advise the crowd size was down because of weather issues – only 3 Super Fans – so Dave could easily spot me across the rink.]

[Moving on to the prep work.  How many cities make up this team?]

[Hockey dads behind glass.]

[Opening face-off against the River Hawks.  River Hawks?  Well, they have to come up with nicknames for these consortiums.  But seriously, North Wright County is running away in their conference, is highly ranked, and some believe may be a favorite for the class AA state championship.  I’d say player-for-player, we were giving up 2-3″ and 15 pounds.  We gotta feed our kids more Quarter-ton Blizzards!]

[After an initial early flurry by the Cards, the River Hawks broke out on a 2-on-1.  Both the players were 7-feet tall and were fast.  The puck carrier took it deep, made a nice pass to the other wing, who effortlessly put it in upper corner.  An easy goal in the the first minute.  We thought, “Uh-oh!”]

[But then the Cards got a power play . . . ]

[And Shelby one-timed a nice diagonal pass from Anna to tie the game!  🙂 ]

[Unfortunately, that would be our only hugging in the game.]

[Madi (12) tries for a break off the next face-off with Mel (6).  During the game, Mel hit a goal post – twice!  They didn’t go in.  The River Hawks hit a goal post twice during the game – both of theirs went in?  What a difference there would have been in the game if that had been reversed.]

[Becca (37) and Anna (31) close in.]

[Anna, Shelby, and Becca in the River Hawks zone.  We had chances.]

[Madi (12), above and below.]

[Madi and Shelby defending our zone.]

[Mel]

[We’re trying to get something going here.]

[Go Cards!  There’s not a River Hawk in sight!]

[And you’re still all alone?]

[Taylor in a face-off against a . . . catcher?]

[We’re close again.]

[Their goalie obviously did a good job.  With about five minutes left in the game, the shots-on-goal were 22-18, though the score was 6-1.  We have to give them credit – whenever they had a scoring chance, they buried it.  I thought we had tired legs the whole game – it was our 3rd game of the week, with Thursday’s being against the conference leader.  So despite not our best game, I thought we did a pretty good job hanging with one of the best class AA teams in the state!]

[We’ll end with Hanah.  We look forward to watching her for the next several years.  Remember the next home game is Senior Day – v. Bemidji on January 26 @ 3:15.  The supervisor and I will be out of town.  We expect good reporting from all others – and a Senior Day brochure!]

Postlude:  The Super Fans have always pondered why our girls’ teams always seem to be physically smaller than the opposition.  We seem to notice that in all sports, and over the years?  Not that we mind, mind you.  Our teams have always been eminently successful!  And as fans, we’re delighted!  Speed and quickness usually wins out . . . but in golf, too?  The only conclusion I can reach is that this is the lakes area – as such, there must have been a long-term evolutionary adpatation favoring the small and the quick for . . . water skiing?

The old know what they want; the young are sad and bewildered.  ~ Logan Pearsall Smith