[Somebody posted our fair city on Facebook about a week ago.  I don’t recall who it was?  If you know, please advise so that I may give proper accreditation.  Nice mid-November photo.]

[So, you may be wondering what this has to do with anything?  Good question.]

[Now mostly known as being the current resident in the HQ’s girlhood home . . .]

[But he was there for the Beaujolais Nouveau Wine Dash.  This internationally-recognized event has now washed up on our fair shores.  Here’s what the Echo Press had to say:  A new type of run added a dash of winter fun to Alexandria Thursday night.  Organized by Broadway Bistro, Downtown and Plaza Liquors and Sixth Avenue Wine and Ale, the event took place on Sixth Avenue, between Broadway and Hawthorne Street. It was a fundraising event for the local United Way.  Servers from local restaurants raced with a tray of plastic wine glasses to celebrate the release of the new Beaujolais, a wine produced in France that is released for sale all over the world annually on the third Thursday of November.]

[We even had major media coverage . . . ]

[And the mayor was there . . . ]

[And here’s how we do it.]

[And they’re off!!!]

[There were three heats – and a “halo of cold!”]

[We have a winner!!  SAWA represented by proprietor Diahnn Ness.  🙂  ]

[And then it was off to the RCC where eventually we had another winner!  🙂  ]

[“The Voices” ready for our first game against someone our own size.  Detroit Lakes is a fellow class A team and in our section.]

[Our Cards, 3-1-1 so far against the big teams.]

[Hanah up from her nap just in time for the game.]

[Mari has ceded Anthem singing duties to Roger for as long as he “keeps winning.”]

[Lauren has new line friends.  We heard rumors of some changes – it’s early in the season, time to see who does and doesn’t click together.]

[Nicole, as usual.]

[And here’s the big change, moving Little Rev back to her defense position.]

[And Taylor Coker (30), junior goalie, making her first ever varsity start.  She played very well – two of the goals against her were on power plays.]

[You may have noticed, no JV coverage.  We were too late after the wine dash.  It probably wasn’t all that exciting (except for the players), we won 12 – 1.]

[A now well-rested Hanah chases after the puck.]

[And here’s the fun part, Ms. Revering had numerous opportunities to score as a forward in the first 5 games but hadn’t until an empty-netter in the previous game.  So, back at her natural defense position for this game, she scored two goals . . . in the first period!  😉  ]

[And here’s the new “Baby Bird” line, composed of 8th-graders McKenna Ellingson (24) and Alexis Heckert (20) with freshman Kristin Trosvig (15).]

[And here’s what has made the Cards so effective so far – not a lot of teams can use three lines, particularly not for the whole game.  But the Cards have Sam Klimek (37, above), Michaela Swenson (34), and Kaila Dewanz (7) for that . . . with relief appearances by Mackenzie Abrahamson (17) and McKenna Schroeder (28).  We have a lot of “Macs” on the team.]

[McKenzie “Little Rev” Revering, usually referred to as Kenzie to cut down on the “Mac” overlaps.]

[Cards swarm, Little Rev launches a slapper, Laker goalie goes down – was that Rev’s 2nd goal?]

[And here is the Michaela, Sam, Kaila line.]

[Must be easier to get her photo now – defense on offense not usually lost in a crowd.]

[A Mari flurry – I don’t charge extra for that.]

[The “Baby Bird” line had it in the zone, then Lauren came on for a close call.]

[The Klimek line is back out.]

[And in the 2nd period, Kristin gets her first varsity goal.]

[The defense pair of Karina Carlsen (31), junior, and Allison O’Kane (36), freshman.]

[And Hanah got the game-winning goal short-handed!  😉  ]

[Mari and Hanah in on goal.]

[Mackenzie out with Michaela.]

[Sam and Lauren?  Must be in a line change.]

[Time-out!  Where we going for the post-game eats?]

[We’ll end with Nicole.  Why not?  Anyway, I don’t think it was our best game.  DL pushed us pretty good so we’ll have to remember that for section purposes.  It’s not going to be easy.  Then the next night, Friday, we went to Willmar to take on their Cards.  It was a conference game and Willmar had started 2 – 0 in conference.  I listened to a good part of the game, and it sounded like we played really well.  We scored on three power plays enroute to a 4 – 0 win.  We are now 5-1-1 heading into the holidays.  The team plays its usual Orono and Mound-Westonka “doubleheader” in the Cities over Thanksgiving weekend.  This will be a real test as, as usual, both these teams are ranked in the top 10 in the state.  This will be the first time in 3 years we haven’t gone down for it.  We don’t like to wander far from home at night in the winter anymore – “far from home” is about a 3-block radius now.]

A youth with his first cigar makes himself sick – a youth with his first girl makes other people sick.  ~  Mary Wilson Little

[Lest you forgot, and just for fun, The Biddies know how to travel in style!]

Up next:  Maybe this . . .