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The Golden Gophers' first opponent this weekend is, of course, the University of North Dakota. Let's face it, it's not the NCAA tournament until these two teams meet. Let's also face the fact that you've probably already read every article there is to read about these two teams and how they didn't play this year and how they won't play for a few years now. I'll boil them down for you: we're all really excited because we hate those guys, and they hate us, and nothing is better than beating them and then throwing back a few beers as they spend the rest of the night in misery.
Remember when Blake Wheeler ruined UND's Final Five?
Just take a moment to appreciate how long Jean-Philipe Lamoureux sits on the ice, leaning against his goal post, stunned, horrified, embarrassed. Remember where you were when that goal was scored? YUP! Well, that was a while ago, so here's something a little more recent. Before you press play, just take a moment to enjoy the disappointment of three guys in the front row.
Remember where you were when that happened? YUP!
The best part of both of these moments is that 9,000 North Dakota fans had to roll their rusted-out pickup trucks back across our beautiful state to the flat, ice-encrusted desert from whence they came. Maybe they stopped in St. Cloud to reminisce.
Oh here's a good one. Who doesn't love Danny Kristo tears?
I honestly don't know how Danny Kristo could possibly be indignant about being thrown out of this game. At least he gave us a top-5 childish freakout. Well, there's no way that a UND goon could do something more inflammatory than that, right?
You know what makes me really happy about this episode? The four Gophers you see in this are senior Mike Shibrowski, senior Captain Nate Condon, junior Captain Kyle Rau, and junior Seth Ambroz. These guys know what this game means, beyond the obvious NCAA tournament implications. They also know what it takes to beat UND 6-2 in Grand Forks.
Here's my advice for Gopher fans tomorrow: sit back with the people that you call friends despite their UND fandom, relax, and draw strength from their devastation as they suffer through such pain and personal anguish, such hell; for nothing! Heck, I graduated from UND, and I managed to pull down a friend (one single friend in five years) in the deal, so there's hope that they can be reasonable people.
Also, do your best to console them over their horrible effort at re-branding their University. The uniforms are horrible, childish, and unimaginative. It's like they were designed with a crayon. They even changed the hue of green they were using. Don't tell me they didn't, because they did. Hey, how do you like those green helmets?