Victories on Ice

Johnson-Como Devils played hard and took first in this weekend's 12U tournament in New Richmond. The tournament started with a close match up with Western Wisconsin, a loss that followed a shoot out. But they were still able to make into the championship round by outscoring the other teams in total goals. Final game against Chippawa Falls was an easy victory for JC, winning 4-0. Emma had a great tournament including a penalty, a half dozen shots on net from the blue line, and an assist. (She is on the far left in the team shot.)










Terri's team, Goal Diggers, also experienced a rare victory this weekend. Here's a picture of Terri (#15) on the ice with her awesome teammate Jaime. She also drew her first penalty of the year, though she claimed it was a dive on the other team.

news and notes

emma's hockey team had two big wins against top ranked teams this weekend. one more game tonite (monday) to see if they can complete the trifecta. no hockey for terri this weekend (two games next) and basketball is a bye week for the MMSA 7th grade girls.

biggest news of the weekend is about ben and the new band he is trying to get going. they played at our house on saturday night. during the course of their jam session, they threw a circuit breaker in the basement and then came up to play in the living room where their reverberations contributed to the collapse of a whole set of shelves in the playroom. quite a mess. they think it'll be a great story for interviews when they become famous. doug thought they could name their new group in honor of the occasion: "top shelf circuit breakers." other nominations (all doug's which few others appear to think are cool) include: SPSS (st. paul super stars of sound), the como park sound machine, the text generation, and teenage music ninja stars.

doug started classes last week, and had two papers accepted for publication so things going well for him. he is giving a talk in the sociology department about his midnight basketball research tomorrow (tuesday). it is called "Race, Sports, and Neoliberalism: Lessons from Midnight Basketball." he is hoping it inspires him to finally finish the book manuscript this spring.

COLD!!!

Chilly night in Minnesota.

-10 and falling.

big sports weekend for the ladies

big sports weekend for the women in the house: emma had 3 bball games (in a tourney), a hockey game, and a little volunteer referring for little kids games on sat; terri two hockey games. all went pretty good. the bball team won one and lost two but played all close games and definitely overachieved. (behind by 3 to last years CAA champion, for example). emma played really well: she had to run the point as our regular point guard had the flu, and completely held her ground against the big girls down low on doug's newly implemented (and surprisingly successful) 2-1-2 zone defense. she wasn't so happy with the outcome of the hockey game, but a 2-1 loss to one of the top ranked teams in the state didn't seem too bad to us.

terri's big game was this afternoon, against the team just below them in the standings. it didn't look good at first--they got behind. but they founded a furious comeback in the last period, got within one goal, and pulled their goalie with under one minute left and scored a tying goal with 28 seconds left. final score: 4-4. rarely will you see such an exciting tie. we were all there in the stands, going crazy. for good measure, terri had an assist in the game on saturday night in a losing effort. she now has 5 points for the season (3 goals, two assists) and--more hillariously--is stilled listed as the top goalie in the league on the basis of her 4 save shutout earlier in the season.

news for ben and doug: the two of them went to the gophers game (W over Iowa) this afternoon. ben had a 3 hour jam session with a couple of new kids yesterday afternoon, and they are thinking of getting a new band going. "spring" classes start for doug tuesday. he is trying to finish up his syllabus tonite so his TA (who has been snowed in in Atlanta) can get it all printed out and ready.

not just parking lots anymore

went down to the minnesota license bureau this afternoon after school so ben could take his learner's permit test. after a brief wait, he whizzed through the test and passed with flying colors, only missing a couple of questions. so he's official now. watch out world (though would be better if the weather cooperated and the streets cleared up a bit).

first win of the year!

emma's basketball team, coached by doug, got their first win of the year last monday, 36-33. game went right down to the wire. emma had two points (on only two shots) but led the team in rebounding and assists. big bball week ahead: another league game on monday, then a tournament next weekend. also a hockey game or two.

other plans for the week include: ben taking his driver's permit test (tues) and continuing with football weight lifting, doug getting ready for new semester (classes start tues after MLK day), terri two hockey games on the weekend, and emma to the orthodontist (thurs). oh and also: finalizing and sending out our annual holiday letter, this year recast as a "year in preview."

out with the old, in with the cold

okay, so we stole that headline from the local paper but it is cold, brutally cold (2 degrees with wind and flurries). anyway, happy new year to all from minnesota! we spent the evening last night with our friends and neighborhoods the Johnsons and a bunch of como high kids. played some games, had lots to eat, and watched the ball drop. it was fun and, after a rather roll coaster 2010, we were definitely ready to toast in a new, more even keel year. along those lines, we finally have a first draft of our holiday letter. it is a 'year in preview' and should be in your mail boxes shortly.