It was a busy weekend of Gopher events, but it is always good to get back to campus.
The festivities started on Friday night with the Homecoming Parade. We met my brother Andrew and his girlfriend there along with Ally and Jake. The parade took about an hour (a little long in my opinion) and then we headed over to the Gopher Hockey game vs. Michigan State. We had to make a decision to attend the parade which started at 7:00 p.m. and miss most of the hockey game, which started at 6:00 p.m, so by the time we got to the game it was 5-0 and 10 minutes left in the 3rd period. We gave up 1 garbage goal and won 5-1 in a virtual no-contest. Home to rest for a long day ahead on Saturday.
Saturday morning the tailgate started at 9:00 a.m. We had the Gopher tent erected and grill hot by 10:00 a.m. We tailgated in Emily and Ryan's parking spot in the Gold lot, which is a premium spot right on the north side of the stadium. Josh and Melissa Campbell (Ryan's business partner and wife), Em, Nicole, Ally, Jake, Z, Ashley and Danny were all in attendance. A few adult beverages and a lot of catch with the football with Zander. Brats, burgers, chips, the whole 9 yards, or in the case of the Gophers about 2 yards.
We got into the game about 1 minute after it started (had to finish that last beer I guess) and we were already down 7-0. We fumbled the opening kickoff and gave up a score in the first 15 seconds. It was that kind of day for the team as we lost 21-13. We endured rain most of the game from the 2nd quarter on, but in the 2nd half we were able to sit with Emily and Ryan in their Outdoor Club seats which were under the overhang so we were dry.
The stadium cleared out pretty fast in the 4th quarter when people were tired of cold/wet and mostly tired of mediocre football. We gutted it out until the end and almost were pleasantly surprised, but the Gophers stalled at the 6 yard-line.
After the game I went over to Buffalo Wild Wings to hang out with some friends, including my brother Ryan while Nicole went to Starbucks to see if there was anyone at the hospital (she was on call). Fortunately, there were no patients to see so she was able to enjoy the afternoon and a drink or two.
Gopher Hockey was the evening plan and we stomped Michigan State for the 2nd consecutive night, this time with a 7-1 score. Gopher hockey is ranked #1 in the country and they sure looked like it this weekend. This Michigan State team looked slow, small and outmatched in every facet of the game, and I was surprised this morning to read that they were 16th in the country coming into the weekend. I'm not going to get ahead of myself with Gopher hockey, but we have the talent to win it all this year, we'll see if they can live up to that talent and the #1 ranking.
Sunday was a recovery day, some grocery shopping and some golf watching. There was a Junior PGA event at Troy Burne where a local gal was playing so we watched her play a few holes. She is the 2-time state champion for Class AAA and she is now beginning her junior season. She won the tournament yesterday by 3 shots shooting a 71 in the wind, very impressive. Celia Kuenster is her name, write it down and remember it, she's going to be a star.
