Saturday Morning. Beat That.

So the Middleton kids had something to cheer about... Notre Dame has one senior on the team, and the underclassmen were committing penalties galore. The first two powerplays early in the first had Middleton up 2-0 early, which only fed the Madison suburban team's confidence. One more powerplay goal early in the second, carried over from a late penalty in the first, and that was all she wrote.

(I doubt we'll again see Madison West, Memorial, East or LaFollette at the State tourney. That city school district is strapped, and hockey is the first thing to go. No, those schools are enshrined in the early record books, some, but the New Money has moved out to Middleton now, where they are building a hockey program to match their schools.)

The crowd noise was loud, and cheap (a "Where's your goalie chant?" after two powerplay goals?) At least maybe some of the school's grownups had talked to them, as there were no "Sucks" chants after player introductions this time. Final: Middleton 5-1. ND is young though, and building. Small (720 total school enrollment), private, rich. They'll be back...

Middleton will face an opponent in Wausau West today, who won last night what was a championship level game against Eau Claire Memorial. Fast, fast, fast. Hard hitting, clean, polished. The OT final was 4-3, with EC tying it up at 3, with only 30 seconds left in the regulation. Oh the cheers that went up... Ditto Wausau when player XX buried the puck in the net against the Eau Claire goaltender -- Mr. Hockey, the biggest honor in the state, boys hockeywise -- 1:06 into overtime. I suspect he'd give it back in a heartbeat to be playing in the team championship game today.

So there you have it: Wausau West v. Middleton this afternoon for the championship.

It's snowed overnight here in Madison. After I finish scraping the car, I'm heading back home -- I got my fill of game action last night. Can't see how it could get much better than that.

Never did make it down to visiting the State Capitol. Didn't want to run into anyone who might fear the awesome power of words, you know, needing to run drama games of their own. (Funny how you suddenly become a "stalker" if someone has their Internet comment board set to come in as emails, and suddenly, they decide they fear you when you call them out on their own actions and storytelling.) I thought Madison was a bigger town than that no? You probably could live here, nevermind visit, for years and years without crossing paths. So why the need to play such games? I wonder*...
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* and always will. Why fear the thinking ones? I guess if you can't compete on the merits -- responding to the questions raised, you play a cheap cheap game, cheered on by your own fans? Nevertheless, I'll be out of town in minutes... Sleep well.