Hockey East Quaterfinals

My old school won a playoff game tonight. UMass Lowell beat Connecticut in their Hockey East Quaterfinal game tonight, 2-1 at UConn.

Their Semifinal game should be Friday at the TD Garden in Boston. If they win that, the Hockey East Final will be Saturday, also at The Garden. If they win Friday, should we go to the game on Saturday? It wouldn’t be my first Hockey East Finals game. I went to one once. BU vs Maine? Was that it? That was the day we all decided to pretend we had Irish accents for some reason. One or two fellow spectators at The Garden that day bought the deception, though most didn’t… and I think it was still called the Fleet Center back then.

Until then, let’s go Lowell, right?

NCAA Hockey and Other Random Stuff

I did something yesterday that I haven’t done since early 2003. I followed a UMass Lowell Riverhawks men’s ice hockey game. I say men’s ice hockey but I don’t know if Lowell has a women’s ice hockey team or not. They didn’t when I was there, but I am hopeful that they do now.

It was after the 2003 season that the athletics department tried to sell the school radio station out from under us and I swore they wouldn’t get a second thought from me until the athletic director was gone. Well, I found out not long ago that he is finally gone, and has been for a few years. He wasn’t fired though, he retired. He should have been fired. Hell, he should have been thrown in jain for trying to fuck us. Whatever, water under the bridge. I can follow my old school’s hockey team again.

Yesterday was opening day. They beat St Lawrence 4-0. I listened to most of the first period. I missed the first minute or two because Bellana and her roommates were visiting. It was 3-0 Lowell when the first period ended and Jen asked me if I wanted to watch a movie (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone). Of course I wanted to watch a movie with my love. Of course. Duh.

The Bruins season opener is in a couple of weeks. October 12th, I think. UMass Lowell doesn’t play again until next weekend. I guess I am now in a hockey black hole, though the Bruins probably have pre-season games this week. I checked, they play New Jersey on Monday and Saturday, and the Rangers on Wednesday. Good.

On an unrelated scheduling note, tonight is the start of the final segment of The Walking Dead. The first of the last eight episodes. I would like to watch it “live” but if I can’t I’ll catch up on the AMC site tomorrow before work. I’m sad that the show is ending, but also ready. It’s time. It was perfect for five-six years, then it slipped for a few years, then it came roaring back. Now let’s let it end before it slips back again. There are at least three spin offs coming, so it isn’t really ending ending, you know? It’s just changing. Still, the main show is a gem and the spin offs will never quite be the same.

I still haven’t watched this week’s Rings of Power so I need to get on that. I also haven’t watched That Pedal Show and that’s unforgivable. There’s just so much good stuff to watch. Really, anything I watch during the week right now is just me biding my time for the next episode of Andor. Did you catch that the woman who played Harry Potter’s aunt in the movies played Andor’s mother? Harry Potter and Star Wars are in the same universe: Confirmed.

Okay, I need to go make Jen some dinner. Wish me luck, folks!

No Hockey Trip This Year

Bellana and Harry both go to the University of Vermont. Jen and I both graduated from UMass Lowell. Both schools’ men’s ice hockey team play in Hockey East. They play each other a couple of times a year.

Pre-pandemic I came up with the genius idea of using hockey as an excuse to visit Bellana at school (Harry was still in high school back then). Lowell was playing at Vermont so I bought a few tickets and up we went. We didn’t end up at the game, but we did have a nice visit with Bellana. I couldn’t do this last year when Harry joined her at school because of Covid. I was thinking that this year would be a good year to try again.

I just checked the schedule. They play each other twice this year and both games are in Lowell. Crap. I might get tickets anyway. My UMass Lowell athletics boycott is over now that the ass munch athletics director who tried to sell my campus radio station to the local shitty newspaper is no longer employed by the university so I am free to pay attention again. I am kinda considering becoming a full fledge Lowell hockey fan again. If I do, I might get tickets anyway.

Back when I was a student and went to a few games a year (prior to the ass munch trying to sell the radio station) the place was almost completely empty during home games, apart from the student section. Social distance is easy in a case like that.

I miss hockey in person. Not as much as I miss live music, or playing with the band, but I do miss it. I wish they were playing in Burlington though. I was hoping for a fun excuse to go up and visit. Oh well.