Corleone -> RE: Gopher Hockey (3/27/2015 2:26:18 PM)
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This will be a tough one for me. I was born in St. Paul into a family of sports nuts, all Gopher fans. A small sect of us moved to Duluth in the early 80s where UMD hockey was the only game in town and with the Bulldogs about to embark on their most successful "era" in the program's history ('82 - '86). My family had season tickets right behind the UMD bench and got to know the Sertich family very well. Being young and impressionable, I became a huge UMD Bulldog fan. My first true "heartbreaks" as a sports fan were the 1984 and 1985 Frozen Fours (Google them and you'll see why). I moved back to the Twin Cities after high school and have been here ever since. I graduated from the U of M in 1995 and re-established my fandom with Gopher hockey via friends, school pride, respect for the program, etc. I suffered through all of the Woog heartbreaks. I was at the X for the Natty title in '02, lost my mind when Potulny scored and partied in the streets afterwards. I still have a signed print from the back-to-back team in '03 hanging on my wall. I watch just about every televised game. So, it's my one and only instance of being a sports bigamist (something I typically loathe). But it has usually worked itself out pretty easily in the past: pre-2011, when UMD had never won it (and I was at the X for that one too [:D]) I pulled for the Bulldogs in the rare years where they actually had a chance to make some noise, otherwise it was always for the Gophers. But ultimately, it never truly mattered except for the one other time they met in the NCAA's (2004). The Gophers were going for a 3-peat and played UMD (which had it's best team in years) in the regional final. Almost mercifully, I happened to be in Las Vegas that weekend without any means of watching the game. I wouldn't know, but I imagine it must be like how parents feel when they have kids competing against each other. So that brings us to this year, today and the same sort of helpless, conflicted feeling. I honestly don't know who I'm going to be cheering for once the game starts....both programs and fanbases have about the same level of "need" as far as I'm concerned. All I know is that I want the better team to win (toss up, IMO), not to have a huge controversy or garbage goal involved with the outcome and most importantly, for the winner to whip those BU pricks tomorrow. So, I guess.....GO MAROON AND GOLD!
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