Somewhere in the air over Alaska or the Bering Sea, en route to South Korea for a work trip, I realized I had messaging on my phone and could check in at home and get some scoring updates from the Minnesota State-Bemidji State game. Thanks to my wife and son, they came in: 1-0 Mavericks after one period, 2-0 after two, 3-0 early in the third, then a review that actually went in MSU’s favor to keep it a three-goal game, and finally an empty-netter and a 4-0 Mason Cup semifinal victory.
Although I haven’t officially been on the beat for nearly five years now (it was five years ago this past week that covid shut down the entire sports world), and only dabble as a freelancer and blogger (thanks to you good folks who keep subscribing and reading), it still feels strange to not be there when a big game is happening.
And that was a big game, considering St. Thomas won the other CCHA semifinal — a 3-1 victory over Bowling Green — meaning the MSU-BSU winner would get the conference’s auto-bid into the NCAA tournament. The Mavericks will be dancing in a couple of weeks, going back to the national tournament for the first time under coach Luke Strand, after missing out last year, and for the 10th time in their Division I era.
Here are my three thoughts (from afar):
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