High school sports is giving some semblance to normal life, with the backdrop of so much adversity. The weather wreaks havoc all over the U.S. In Minnesota we have greater readiness than in Texas.
There was a brief power outage in my home. Otherwise the situation is pretty stable. I applied the battery charger once for my car. Are we now past the 20-below stuff? But maybe there's snow accumulation to deal with now. I see snow falling out the picture window facing to the north.
My late father insisted on picture windows facing both the north and south. So I got a good view of a red fox meandering on by a couple of days ago.
My late mother and I would say the rabbits are staying warm with their fur! Following her passing, the first project I undertook was to have the south-facing picture windows replaced. The contemporary windows are so much more energy-wise. I had been using some caulk on the previous windows. Not cool. (Caulking seems rather a red-necky thing, n'est-ce pas?)
So, high school sports is serving to project some normality. We hope priorities are not off-kilter and that the learning aspect of school is optimized. A friend jokes that schools exist for the sports aspect. Easy for me to nod at that a little, as I once had pretty close contact through writing for the local commercial media. All through the years I saw people get overly emotionally invested in high school sports.
The scoring was a share-the-wealth proposition: seven players scoring goals! Zach Bruns notched a hat trick. The score stood 2-1 after one period. Bruns got things going with a goal assisted by Kaleb Breuer. Brady Cline answered with Prairie Centre's only goal of the night. This was a power play goal that had Ethan Hoffman and Zach Deters assisting. Brady Goff put the Storm up 2-1 with a goal that had Will Breuer assisting.
MBA owned the second period. A succession of goals had the Storm fans cheering lustily. Tim Blume got it started with assists from Ryan Tolifson and Will Breuer. Bruns got the puck in the net with an assist from Brady DeHaan. Bruns turned the trick again with a goal at 10:16. Assists were from Sam Thompson and DeHaan.
Tolifson struck at the 11:10 mark assisted by Will Breuer. Will stepped forward for a goal of his own that had a Hunter Blume assist. Then it was Tolifson showing a flourish to score unassisted at 16:46.
MBA polished off the win with a 2-0 third period advantage. Trevor Buss scored unassisted. Then it was Cole Blume scoring with a Buss assist at 14:16. Lots of offense and high-quality skating to be savored on this night.
Defensively we had Brady Backman as the goalie. He had 25 saves in 26 attempts. Joe Nedoroscik worked in goal for Prairie Centre.
"Hockey night" is always a pleasure for Morris and Benson. Remember the announcer who always proclaimed "it's hockey night in Minnesota?" Remember Gump Worsley in goal, no mask? "The Gumper." Ted Schmidt was a fan. I remember Bobby Rousseau.
Boys basketball: Tigers 69, Monte 46
MACA boys basketball was up for a trip to Montevideo, in the midst of this ungodly winter weather period. Our spirits are lifted as we follow the Tigers. The trip south resulted in our eighth win of the campaign. There is just one blemish on our record. The Tigers won 69-46 but were not dominant the whole way.
Would you believe we trailed at halftime? The halftime score was 27-24 with the Thunder Hawks up. The orange and black was sensational in second half play. The advantage was by 45 to 19! Our coaching staff must have spotted some Monte weaknesses. The Tigers came out on fire for second half play, going on a 33-7 run.
Durgin Decker added seven points to the mix on 3/6 shooting. Brandon Jergenson struggled some with 1/7 shooting but his one success was a three-pointer. Sam Kleinwolterink scored two points. Tiernan made two 3-pointers in five tries. Jergenson had our other '3'. Gonnerman appeared at the freethrow line seven times, making five. Loge was two of five in freethrows while Decker was 1/3.
Post player Loge, six feet-eight, accumulated 15 rebounds to lead. Nine of his boards were offensive, six defensive. Decker attacked the defensive boards for six rebounds. Gonnerman was No. 3 on the list with his four total rebounds. The team rebound total was 34. In assists we had 18 total with Jergenson's five as team-best. Decker and Loge each had four assists. Two Tigers each had two steals of our nine total: Decker and Jergenson.
Loge created headaches for the T-Hawks with ten blocked shots. Gonnerman had our other two blocked shots. Monte coach Derek Webb was quoted saying "my gosh that Loge is tough." I recall typing such comments in a previous era, when a Loge had a different first name. Happened to be Jackson's father.
Monte's top scorer was Bradyn Schultz with 13 points. Schultz made three 3-pointers. Hunter Strand succeeded twice from beyond the 3-point arc, and Landon Stock made one '3'. Schultz collected eight rebounds to lead, followed by Kaden Boike with seven. Andrew Vanbinsbergen dished out three assists. Schultz and Boike each had three steals.
Girls: BOLD 65, MACA 57
The girls hoops team made the trip to Olivia Tuesday to play BOLD. Emma Bowman scored 17 points but it wasn't enough to help MACA turn back BOLD. We were defeated in the 65-57 outcome. Bowman also grabbed five rebounds.
Maddy Grove came through with 12 points and Cate Kehoe had eleven. I'm sure Cate's granddad Tom Carrington was a little disconsolate early Wednesday morning at the DeToy's counter. Normally I'd be there at the same time, but during this extreme cold I have elected to stay in the house until the sun comes up. We will never forget this winter.
The MACA W/L record is now 3-7. The BOLD Warriors sit at 5-4.
I used to be a counter customer at DeToy's but no more. I need a nice soft booth seat! Karrie takes care of Tom and I in the morning. I sit across the partition from all the rabid Trump supporters who sit in the middle section. I suppose they're still in mourning over their guy's loss, although they'd probably say he didn't really lose.
Addendum: I swear that when the weather gets agreeable, I will savor each and every day, to get outside and bathe in the fresh air. I will not take for granted one single day!
My podcast for Feb. 17
We're inaugurating Lenton season today (Wednesday). I invite everyone to check out First Lutheran's representation online, on YouTube. We have improved with this. My podcast episode reflects on the nature of being Lutheran. It's not without warts or confusion. The permalink:
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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