Senior Night

January 20

Let’s play hockey!!

It’s been three weeks since last we visited here. The longest stretch between postings since I started this blog 10 years ago. Stuff happens. A pandemic. A winter like we haven’t had for a while. So Mom and I have just been staying home with the babies, trying the be good parents.

The top three worst things I’ve seen in hockey? The invention of the trap. The invention of the morning skate. And the invention of the extremely ugly uniform. ~ Brett Hull

GOOOOOAAAAALLLLLLLL!!!!!

[Now this is hockey weather . . . ]

[As is this . . . ]

[I arrived at the Runestone Community Center to find my competition for covering the event, Mark Ripley (officially hired by the school to do such), was about the only other masked guy in place, explaining why I haven’t been to many games lately . . . ]

[I did not know upon arrival that the game was Senior Night. That’s good in that we got the senior bios. But bad because teams never perform well on Senior Night (too much emotion) . . . ]

[The Cards were hosting our long time conference rival Fergus Falls. I arrive in time to see about half of the JV games, to see the up and comers. This was just after a goal by sophomore defense Maya Wagner (16). I thought she was very impressive – good size, good skater, good stick handler. I’m kind of surprised she’s not playing on the varsity yet . . . ]

The science fair has long been a favorite educational tool in the American school system, and for a good reason: Your teachers hate you. ~ Dave Barry.

[Well done, JV!]

[The after the game socializing . . . ]

[And then the varsity took the ice, and Mr. Ripley prepared for all the team photos . . . ]

….if you want to know what society’s going to be like in 20 years, ask a kindergarten teacher. ~ Clifford Stoll

[Then the individual senior photos with mom & dad . . . ]

[You will likely note that I’m shooting through the glass at an angle. And from this angle you can see every mark on the glass caused by collisions with players, sticks, and pucks . . . ]

OK, gather up – time for the all seniors photos . . .

Almost ready . . .

The “A” shot . . .

[And the hockey moms joined in. The player in civvies is a team captain, Kaci Trosvig, who is out with injury (shoulder, I believe) . . . ]

[A pretty good crowd on hand . . . ]

[The long white line . . . ]

I never did very well in math—I could never seem to persuade the teacher that I hadn’t meant my answers literally. ~  Calvin Trillin

Smartness runs in my family. When I went to school I was so smart my teacher was in my class for five years. ~  Gracie Allen

Teachers are the only professionals who have to respond to bells every forty-five minutes and come out fighting. ~ Frank McCourt

[Oh, and this was the line up for the anthem . . . ]

[The pre-game huddle to decide post-game snacking . . . ]

[The opening face-off. Fergus has a much better record than the Cards this year, but the Cards had beaten the Otters, 4 – 2, at their place two weeks ago during our 5-game winning streak . . . ]

[Coach Arola and her charges on the bench . . . ]

[Senior Lauren Rebrovich (15) scored the first goal of the game. It was also the first goal of her career. She is the daughter of the previous golf pro at the Alexandria Golf Club, and a member of the Cardinals state champion golf team . . . ]

[This is senior MaKenna Aure (17) who was once described by her coach as someone with insane speed . . . ]

[This game took a really bad turn in the first period when she was accidentally blind sided and had to be helped off the ice, not to return. With Kaci Trosvig already out, we were missing some serious fire power for the rest of the game . . . ]

[MaKenna was in Minnesota’s CCM High Performance program (Echo Press photo) . . . ]

[More coverage for Ms. Rebrovich who scored our only goal of the game . . . ]

[And on the move . . . ]

[The Otters won, 3 – 1, getting a very late power play goal. The Otters deserved the win . . . ]

[Senior goalies Jordan O’Kane (1) and Hailey Bailey (35) split time in the goal on this game. They apparently are best buddies and have been alternating most of the season . . . ]

[Though the Cardinal win streak was stopped at 5, they may have started another with a 5 – 1 home win over Breck this weekend . . . ]

[The senior photo stolen from the Cardinal Connection. I suspect if this team gets healthy, they will be a tough out at tournament time . . . ]

I never did say that you can’t be a nice guy and win. I said that if I was playing third base and my mother rounded third with the winning run, I’d trip her up. ~ Leo Durocher

I’m never tired of winning, and I’m never tired of skiing. ~ Lindsey Vonn

Up Next: Will they be wearing masks?