After this one, only two to go.

I was just scanning through Bike pictures 2007 again. I ran across the series on pictures of water towers. I admit to having forgotten nearly all about that series. Here is a water tower on the farm campus, only a couple of blocks from my friends, the cows.I thought the University water tower and the University logo were both particularly appropriate as TOPWLH and I just returned from our other lives as season ticket holders for Gopher women's hockey.

It was an exciting game, not only for the hockey, but also for TOPWLH as she got hailed by and then engaged in conversation with the mothers of two different players both of whom are likely to be members of the next US Olympic women's hockey team. TOPWLH is incorrigibly gregarious.

I hereby for the first time in the blogging context reveal that I have yet another alter ego that most of you are not aware of. Here is what that alter ego posted about today's hockey game in yet another place on the internet where I sometimes leave my thoughts. Many of you are not going to understand the references and I am sorry if you do not. But when I write about hockey I am writing for hockey fans, all of whom DO understand all of the references. So here goes:

Minnesota 3, Harvard 1.

An excellent, high tempo game between two quality teams.

Minnesota (MLam) got a goal after 32 seconds. Other than that single play the first period was very even, ending at 1-0.

Harvard outplayed Minnesota in the second but it remained 1-0 going to the third.

Minnesota's fourth line got a lot of ice time. Harvard played its fourth line some but that line seemed to me to get a lot less time than Minnesota's fourth. By the third period Minnesota got the most of the best of the play. It was 3-0 before Harvard got the game's final goal.

Attendance was 1,226, a very nice crowd for the day after Thanksgiving.

I pronounce myself satisfied with the JLam, MLam, Marvin experiment. I have seen enough, let's move on. In this configuration Gigi does not have the puck enough. Minnesota has several wings who can perform the functions for the Lams that Gigi is performing with this line configuration. The second line tonight was Schoullis, West and Francis and I would now like to see Schoullis and Marvin switch places. I would like to see them go back to the configuration they displayed in the very first games of the season, Marvin, West, Francis, then JLam, MLam, Schoullis.

The fourth line played a lot and was actually very good. They got caught out against Harvard's top line two or three times but even that was not catastrophic. At other times they held their own and even created chances.

Grogan is very good.

Vaillancourt is every bit as good as her reputation, always one of the best players on the ice every time she was out there.

Ludwig and Perrault refereed. Those guys are NOT very good. In addition, AR Langley made a key clear of the zone for Minnesota while Harvard had a 5 on 3 power play, letting a Harvard pass hit her in the skates and redirecting the puck to center ice, thereby killing off most of the remaining time with the 2 player advantage. It was not a banner night for the team in the striped shirts.