I spent the early minutes of the hockey game listening to the Cardinal girls basketball game on the radio. We lost on the road 45 – 44 to an also highly ranked Willmar Cardinals team. Our Cardinals, ranked No. 1, were the last class AAA team to lose a game this season. We will be back! In other basketball news, I discovered today, while still “moving into” our new home, that I have been to 24 Final Fours (the last in 2010) . . .
[The Cardinals were already ahead 3 – 0 when I arrived in the RCC about halfway through the 1st period. Here our goalie, Hailee Bailey (35), attempts to keep herself occupied when most of the action is at the other end of the ice . . . ]
[Then the Cardinals scored goal No. 4, Alexis Heckert (20), from Anna Doherty (7) and Marki Oberg (10) . . . ]
[Here’s Mayson Toft (14), who always seems to be stationed in the same part of the building I’m in . . . ]
[Helping to keep Hailee safe from harm . . . ]
[With additional help from Hadlee Hansen (18) . . . ]
[Mayson, with Erin O’Kane (26) in the background . . . ]
[Ali Castle (22) on the defense . . . ]
[Opposition goal prevented . . . ]
[Ali is one of the large group of freshmen and sophomores who are fleet askate . . . ]
[Head manning the puck to center ice . . . ]
[And the Cards get goal No. 5, McKenna Ellingson (24), from Mayson . . . ]
[Total dominance by the Cards through the 1st period . . . ]
[And here comes “Mr. National Anthem” . . . ]
[Roger Riley, also an original Super Fan, has been singing the Anthem at girls’ games for many years now. His winning percentage is about .95 . . . ]
[The varsity stays on the ice between periods so Cardinals-of-the-future can get in some ice time . . . ]
[The start of the 2nd period. Then I was a victim of a photographer’s faux pas – a dead camera battery with no spare. I was dead in the water. As noted in the title, however, the Cards had a easy road to victory. We led 11 – 0 at the end of the 2nd, when I left because the game was no longer in doubt, obviously. The team now goes on the road for their final four regular season games. They certainly appear to be peaking at just the right time . . . ]
I never thought I’d lose, I only thought I’d win. ~ Elton John song
The Journey Begins
Thanks for joining me! This is the follow-up to the original, “alexandriacardinals.wordpress.com,” which overwhelmed the system’s ability to handle it any more. Thus, this is “Part 2.” As the original was initially described:
10-26-07-4
“It all began in a 5,000 watt radio station in Fresno, California” . . . wait a minute, that was Ted Baxter on the Mary Tyler Moore Show! Let’s see . . . oh yeah, it all began in 2003 when retirees, i.e., old people, in Alexandria, Minnesota, who had no desire to become snow birds, went looking for mid-winter entertainment here in the frozen tundra of West Central Minnesota. We discovered girls’ high school hockey, fell in love immediately, and it remains our favorite spectator sport to this day. Initially, and for several years, reports on these games were e-mailed to those who were actually snowbirds but wanted to keep abreast of things “back home.” It was ultimately decided a blog would be more efficient, and it evolved into a personal diary of many things that attracts tens of readers on occasion. It remains a source of personal mental therapy and has yet to elicit any lawsuits.
~ The Editor, May 9, 2014
p.s. The photo border around the blog is the Cardinal girls’ hockey team after just beating Breck for the state championship in 2008. It’s of the all-tournament team. The visible Breck player on the left is Milica McMillen, then an 8th-grader – she is now an All-American for the Gophers. The Roseau player in the stocking cap I believe is Mary Loken, who went on to play for UND; and the Cardinal player on the right, No. 3, is Abby Williams, the player we blame most for making us girls’ hockey fans who went on to play for Bemidji State.
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Photos contained herein are available for personal use. All you have to do is double click on any of the photos and they will become full screen size. You can then save them into your personal “My Pictures” file. They make lovely parting or hostess gifts, or holiday gifts for such as Uncle Ernie who wants to see how his grand niece is doing on the hockey team. If any are sold for personal profit, however, to, for example, the Audubon Society, National Geographic, Sven’s Home Workshop Monthly, Curling By The Numbers, or the World Wrestling Federation, I only request that you make a donation to the charitable organization of your choice. You have two hours and fifteen minutes. Pencils ready? Begin!
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