And Hey, It's Good...

To Be Back Home, Again.

The drive up the interstate yesterday was fine. Held at a steady 65mph, the speed limit. Grey and gloomy much of the way, and then around the Indianhead region of Black River Falls, the clouds broke and the blue sky was beautiful.

To round up our hockey news,
Wausau West indeed took home the title honors, shutting out Middleton 5-0. I got home in time to turn on the tv, and watch the two girls' varsity Co-ops teams take it to 4 overtimes. That's essentially skating two-plus games = 6 complete periods, until the game ended 3-2, 30 seconds into the seventh. As the boys championship immediately follows the girls, they had some time waiting in the lockerrooms.

But what a shot in the arm for the girls' sport. Contrary to belief, many fathers (and mothers too!) in hockey families see nothing wrong at all in promoting their daughters playing in such a cardiovascular sport. No checking, of course, in the girls' games. But sometimes that makes for a faster skated, precision passing game, with heavy emphasis on defense.

That's what I saw in the OT periods, even as the girls tired. The goalies held strong, but eventually the St. Croix Valley Fusion (the River Falls co-op team) got the shot that ended the game against the Central Wisconsin Storm (Mosinee area co-op). These teams are made up of many high schools in their areas, so the girls not only have the option of playing on a girls team (instead of advancing their skills playing limited minutes with the boys' high school squads, as so many had to do if they wanted to play in the early years -- ie/Karen Bye, of River Falls), but they also get to advance their training, and make friends, with other young women who share an interest in the sport from other high schools. As they tend to train year-round, I'm sure there were some valued friendships between competitors on both ends of the ice yesterday.

And with the Middleton, Wausau, and all fans gathering on-time for the boys' game (as well as those tuning in on tv across the state), I can't help but concluding this was a win-win-win for promoting the sport of girls' hockey, popular in Minnesota and out East, and really taking off these past 10 years here in Wisconsin. It's healthy to have something like that, to keep their physical and competitive instincts in practice, as well as to learn the honest value of competing hard, against friends and rivals alike.