The month of March is usually one of my favorite times of the year, baseball chatter starts picking up, the weather gets back above 40 degrees and, with apologies to the Stanley Cup playoffs, the best tournaments in sports take place. Within a span of 4 weeks, the Minnesota high school hockey tournament, WCHA Final Five and a little thing called March Madness (you might've heard of it) all occur, peppering the monthly calendar with one great game after another. Throw in the typical run up of conference hoops and hockey tourneys, along with high school sectional playoffs, and you have the greatest month on the sports calendar this side of October, which gets the top spot since it's the only time that all 4 major sports (yes, I'm sticking to hockey as a major) are in season.
This year we get to hitch March with a running start, thanks to a rousing Olympic hockey tournament and run of big games in other sports kicking off today. A little sampling of what's in store for the next week:
Today
2:00 - USA vs. Switzerland - The Americans cannot sleep on the Swiss, they may be a 2nd tier team, but are definitely dangerous, losing today would be a tragic ending after the big win over Canada
4:30 - Canada vs. Russia - Game of the day, no question. Tons of NHL talent, including the two best players in the league, not to mention I can't be disappointed, because one of these teams will be going home without a medal!
9:00 - Finland vs. Czech Republic - Solid game featuring a lot of players from the Wild, chance to do some scouting for the semifinals
11:00 - Sweden vs. Slovakia - Probably past my bedtime, which is a shame, every game on this slate is good, with this one being no exception. If Mary Ann Gaborik pulls here groin and I miss it, that would be terrible.
Throw in a huge Gopher hoops tilt and you have one heck of a Wednesday.
Thursday
I'm not a big high school sports guy, but the hockey in this state is second to none, and when my alma mater Burnsville is on a 14-1-1 run coming into the section tourney, it demands attention. The Blaze should roll over Shakopee on their way to the semifinals.
Friday
Two Olympic hockey semifinals and a slate of crucial WCHA games kick off the weekend
Saturday
Hopefully the Gophers and Burnsville are still both relevant at this point, if so a couple more huge games to pass the time on Saturday, Gophers @ Illinois, Blaze vs. TBD in the section semis.
Sunday
Ditto for the USA hockey team, just make it to Sunday and play for the gold, then anything is possible.
All in all, one heck of a slate of games to jump start one of the best months of the year.
This time of year is usually fun regardless of the status of our teams, but for me personally, with the distinct possibility of BOTH the Gopher hoops team and the Gopher hockey team missing their respective NCAA tournaments in the same season for the first time in...geez...maybe forever...I am struggling to find the energy.
ReplyDeleteThrow in the "taking-one-step-back-before-two-steps-forward" Wild, and the "rebuilding-from-the-very-foundation" Wolves (it all started with the NFC title game), and they have taken it out of me this year. This year is the worst year in Loserville history, and that is saying something. I dare anyone to give me another season that is even close to this one in terms a combination of heartbreak and irrelevance.
I am pretty much just in monitoring mode until I hear the first words out of John Gordon's mouth. And won't come out of my cave until the Gopher baseball game at Target Field on March 27th. Until then, just hunkering down as I have been since January 24th...one tough month.