Michigan State v. Minnesota (@ MSG) recap; more retail/sports news

Well, for once within these past few weeks, it wasn't "sub-zero" outside, so, yesterday (Sat.), I was able to head over to MSG for Michigan State v. Minnesota in relative "comfort", being that the outside temperature throughout the afternoon hovered right around 50 degrees, only seemingly dropping down into the mid-40s closer to game time, despite being quite windy all day long, which was a much-needed, and very welcome, change from the "sub-zero" temperatures from my recent Princeton (2x)/L.I. hockey visits!

This time around, I returned to MSG, this time for Michigan State v. Minnesota, and, immediately upon entering, I noticed just why MSG/Ticketmaster only listed openings in the 100-level seats: because the 200-level seats were completely closed for this game, apparently owing to MSG not expecting as many people from either of those schools, compared to those from the northeast, or, again, surprisingly, North Dakota, although, to make up for that "contraction" in attendance, security seemingly ended up being slightly more permissive than usual in letting people change sections (except for the bands, which were stuck in opposite corner sections the whole game - Michigan State's band in 110, and Minnesota's band in 120 - now that I mentioned it, I should probably also mention that the "playlist" throughout the night was about 70-75% bands, and 25-30% "pre-recorded"...)... Also, along with the bands, the Big Ten Network provided a live telecast, the audio of which was actually broadcast throughout the Garden, the same way professional teams tend to broadcast their radio feeds live (fun fact: the network's debut telecast was the famous/infamous Appalachian State over Michigan football game to start that particular 2007 season), both school's mascots appeared, mostly greeting fans of their own teams, and both cheerleading squads also made the trip, although Minnesota's squad was much more "influential", since, as they apparently do back in Minneapolis, when welcoming the Minnesota players back to the ice after each intermission, quite literally ignored the Michigan State players doing the same, as they lined up on either side of the center ice red line, turned facing the 8th Ave. end seating sections, and welcomed all of the Minnesota players back to the ice before retreating back into the tunnel and up into those sections!

Early on in the game, there was an ejection, of all things, as a Michigan State player did a little bit of, as they say in the military, "headhunting", or at least an attempt at doing so, as, again, one of them hit one of the Minnesota players up top, leading to a bit of a conference among the officials, who then gave a five-minute major penalty and game misconduct for said hit! Michigan State somehow ended up killing off the entire major, yet Minnesota opened the scoring almost immediately after the end of the five minutes, and the rest of the opening 20 minutes largely passed uneventfully, with Minnesota hanging on to the lone goal of the period through its end!

Minnesota evened up the shot totals early on in the second period, eventually taking the lead there, along with the scoreboard, although a chance to extend the lead to 2-0 fell short courtesy of an absolute highway robbery of a glove save by Michigan State's goaltender on another wide-open Minnesota "man advantage" opportunity (albeit of the two-minute variety); in the end, Minnesota would keep the same 1-0 lead it initially took halfway through the opening period of the game!

It became Michigan State's turn to narrow the shot total difference early in the final period, slowly moving in on the Minnesota crease, seemingly, with each chance, and, indeed, midway through the period, it was one of those "point-blank" opportunities that would end up tying the game for Michigan State, although Minnesota ended up retaking the lead for good on a very similar opportunity a few minutes later, leading to a frantic finish in which Michigan State had, expectedly, pulled its goaltender for an extra skater, but, in the end, even that couldn't get either an empty-netter for Minnesota, or another tying goal for Michigan State!

(incidentally, Ohio State defeated Minnesota in the basketball game in the afternoon, meaning that Minnesota split its pair of sporting events inside MSG this weekend!)

Michigan State recap

Minnesota recap

Michigan State highlights

Minnesota's pair of goals

(on a slightly unrelated note, I found this, this, and this a few days ago; also, Disney's former CEO is now turning the fortunes of a 2nd-tier English soccer club...)

(also, from Ohio State's business school, an interesting "Best Buy v. Circuit City" discussion, from around the time that the original CC was winding down its operations a little under a decade or so ago, after the whole "financial crisis" nationally)

$750K, courtesy of a Miami-based real estate firm, for the Macy*s location in Bangor, Maine;

...this past week or so also ended up being the end of Sears Canada after 66 years (26 of them, 1952-1978, as part of Simpsons department stores), and, with that, there were stories about many people and places:

a 21-year-old obsessed with Sears' appliance sections

a Saskatoon mall suddenly tasked with replacing its 2nd-biggest space

the ends of the Bathurst/Saint John, NB, locations

the rest of New Brunswick

same in Charlottetown, PEI

catching up with an employee who worked at the Saskatoon location for a half-century

DirectBuy still exists?

In more retail news, there's a different department store chain (in other words, not JCPenney or Kmart/Sears) that might be near a bankruptcy/restructuring declaration soon:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-12/bon-ton-creditors-are-said-to-propose-bankruptcy-within-weeks

...also, a previously collapsed former consumer electronics retailer might be on the verge of a slight comeback soon, starting in the Dallas/Fort Worth, TX, "metroplex" region:

http://clark.com/shopping-retail/circuit-city-comeback-smaller-stores-relaunched-website/

(although, if the moronic "state bank" idea that's been floated here in N.J. these past few months actually gets started, then you can expect every construction/re-development project everywhere to get caught up in all sorts of "bureaucracy"...)

(on the other hand, I'd say the decriminalization/legalization of marijuana might be as helpful to the state, in my opinion, as the whole "Bank of N.J." idea would be harmful to the state!)

...also, sad news in the local drag racing "universe":

http://www.etownraceway.com/mydocuments/nappfamilyrestructure.pdf

...there's also a "friendly" between Iceland and Peru scheduled for late March at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, and a rugby match scheduled between South Africa and Wales somewhere in Washington, D.C., this upcoming (early) June - either the as-yet unfinished Audi Field, future home of MLS D.C. United, or RFK Stadium, the former home of many local teams down there:

http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/red-bull-arena-set-to-host-iceland-and-peru-in-advance-of-2018-fifa/n-5289781

http://www.americasrugbynews.com/2018/01/11/wales-play-south-africa-washington-dc/

As for hockey, well, I believe I mentioned Arizona State visiting Yale early next month, and being curious about how that program runs "live", although Princeton will actually have spent this entire month away from home (so too, will Quinnipiac, only to return home at the end of the month to face...you guessed it, Princeton!), not scheduled to return until February, when St. Lawrence, Clarkson, RPI, and Union (all the NYS D1 schools), in that order, will all end up visiting the historic rink complete, now, with a new scoreboard, so any one of those games, as of right now, might very well be when I'll bring you my next recap!

Army v. Sacred Heart (@ Nassau Coliseum)/Canada v. Sweden (Buffalo, N.Y./online) recaps

temperature at puck drop: 9 degrees; wind chill: -8 degrees; dew point/"feels like": -11 degrees; wind speeds: 15 MPH/NW; gusts up to 25 MPH/NW; (relative) humidity: 37% (measured at about 6:50 P.M. EST (NWS), so actually slightly before the start of the game, which didn't start until closer to 7:15)

after the game: 7 degrees; wind chill: -7 degrees; dew point/"feels like": -9 degrees; wind speeds: 10 MPH/NW; gusts up to 22 MPH/NW; relative humidity: 45% (this time around, measured between about 9:50 and 10 P.M. EST)

(...this might be a good time for me to mention that our place appears to be about a mid-century (1950s/60s) build, meaning that it's just old enough to still have steam pipes, like so, except silver, instead of white, and it sometimes takes a while for heat to get "pumped" out of them, along with producing these "clanging" noises every so often, but, considering how plain old those steam pipes are now, having had the boilers changed some years ago, and having to be supplemented with electric "space" heaters, they're still more than effective!)

attendance: 1,353, which, honestly, seemed quite the reasonable estimate this time, despite most people having to travel fair distances, and the brutal cold outside - the arena itself was actually warm to the point that I actually started sweating a tiny bit right around the end of the opening period, leading me to remove all of the winter weather "equipment" I entered the arena with from then on up until after the game!

"...what was I wearing?", you might be asking right now: Smith's WorkWear either flannel or fleece-lined denim; Old Navy thermal undershirt; the ol' Hartford Whalers' (dark) blue with green/grey/silver/white striping/trim; Northern Explosion (light) blue polyester vest (like this, except, again, in blue); Brave Soul "black label" "varsity"-styled jacket, like you might see college/H.S. athletes wearing, except in a "generic" format, not produced by any school(s); two pairs of gloves; ski hat/"ski mask" (face covering/etc.)

Last night, as mentioned, I was back at the Nassau Coliseum in Hempstead/Uniondale, on Long Island, for the first time, myself, since this 2011 game; this time, however, the competing teams were Army West Point, and Sacred Heart University, which, as you know, I had already seen both in various capacities within the months leading up to now - watching Army football smash Fordham back around Labor Day, and then watching SHU hockey defeat UConn about a month and a half later, but what made this particular game weird from the start was that it ended up being a Sacred Heart "home" game, despite being played on Long Island - literally the only reason I could think of for that being the case was the NHL's Islanders having had their AHL affiliate in Bridgeport since 2001, and Sacred Heart moving its (actual) home games there from both Milford and North Branford, CT, to Bridgeport in 2016... The arena itself almost has this "exoskeleton" look to it now, also, after the renovations of a few years ago, with everything inside having been changed since the Islanders left back in 2014, and, in fact, you wouldn't be far off for confusing it for the Barclays Center, over in Brooklyn, since the operating group over there actually manages most of the "new" Coliseum's facilities now!

Despite all that, though, the majority of the crowd was rooting for Army, which makes sense, given the shorter trip from West Point to Hempstead/Uniondale, compared to the Bridgeport -> those two places trip, yet the Coliseum showed the majority of replays in favor of Sacred Heart, including playing the same intro video as seen in Bridgeport, and, in a quite petty move on its part, not showing any replays for any of the Army goals throughout the game, along with only playing (a rather crappy recording of) the Islanders' long time "goal horn" after Sacred Heart goals, and the PA announcements even had different "tones" to them, depending on what happened (Army goals and Sacred Heart penalties were announced in a very "straightforward"-like manner, while Army penalties and Sacred Heart goals got a bit of "emphasis"), although, in a sense, there was some "karma" there, as the camera operators increasingly seemed to almost "run out" of Sacred Heart fans, and replays in favor of the team, to show later on in the game, and they ended up showing anybody/thing they could get in the late stages, although, honestly, it was better that way, in a tiny sense, since it seemed to "galvanize" the Army fans who made the trip from wherever to make that much more noise after Army goals, and even hits, which, as you'll find out, there were more than a few of during the game!

Alright, after all of that, it's time, once again, as always, to recap the game itself, and I'll start off this one by saying that the first about 10 minutes or so of the game almost seemed like a bit of "feeling out" time between the teams, mostly appearing to go in Sacred Heart's favor overall, which is ironic, though, since the teams skated to a 5-5 tie in Bridgeport earlier in the season, although Army got the first "man advantage" of the game, which ended up being unsuccessful, but Sacred Heart soon thereafter converted on the first Army penalty of the game to open the scoring midway through the period, after which Army fought back, though, and got a "man advantage" equalizer of its own a few minutes later, and then managed to take the lead from about five minutes remaining through the first intermission!

During the middle frame, the hitting suddenly increased, especially in terms of hits right in front of either team's bench, and Sacred Heart tied the game just about five minutes in, albeit at even-strength both ways, soon committing another penalty, although Sacred Heart managed to catch Army's power play unit "napping" right at the end of those two minutes, and got a "breakaway" goal just after the conclusion of the aforementioned penalty, to give Sacred Heart the lead once again, and, despite Army dominating the shot count after that, the period ended with Sacred Heart still holding the 3-2 edge that "shorthanded" goal ended up creating earlier in the period!

The final 20 seemed to start off in much the same fashion as the game itself did, with both teams suddenly trying to "feel out" each other once again, and, in doing so, ended up committing a bunch of penalties, even with some more hits, one of which Army ended up converting on to tie the game once again, this time at 3-3, although, as was the case throughout the night, Army just plain refused to shoot the puck, preferring to just move it around this sort of "umbrella" formation it kept setting up in with each "man advantage", finally getting said goal with just seconds remaining on the penalty, and only after hearing quite a few of the Army fans suddenly getting quite restless, and calling for more power play shots from their team! That would be it for those 20 minutes, however, leading to, for me personally, yet another game featuring another five-minute overtime period!

The overtime period seemed to be "a tale of two halves", almost, with Sacred Heart dominating early, and Army dominating later on, although both goaltenders were quite up to the task standing in front of them, both stopping everything that came their way then, to create, again, for me personally, another game ending in a tie, this time 3-3, just like St. Cloud State @ Princeton, game 1/2, from the previous weekend!

box score (Army)

Army recap

Sacred Heart recap

some images from the Coliseum's in-house photographer (you'll see little arrows off to either side of those images; merely click to move through them!)

some highlights

(also, thankfully, none of these made the trip...)

My next game, now, would be Michigan State v. Minnesota @ MSG, Sat. night, 1/20, except nothing appears to be left in my usual center ice/200-level sections there (only the 100-level end seats, followed by corners, and then center ice, so I'm not sure at this point whether to even bother with that game, given those circumstances!)

The previous night (Friday), though, Canada defeated Sweden in even more frigid Buffalo, N.Y., in front of arguably the only "sellout" crowd of the whole tournament late last year into this one, which seems to be "more of the same" there, after tons of complaints from fans attending games in Montreal and Toronto during the 2016-17 tournament, when the IIHF and partners reportedly charged "NHL-level" prices, to win this year's IIHF World Junior Championships, and, having "binged" on highlights from a bunch of those games within the day or so leading to the U.S. smashing the Czech Republic in the bronze medal game in the aforementioned tournament, 9-3, leading into Canada squeaking past Sweden to win the championship/gold medal game, the one constant I kept hearing from the TSN crew (since, like, I'm sure that only dozens of people here even have the NHL Network, meaning that one basically must find live streams of TSN, and, by extension, Gord Miller and Ray Ferraro, who've called the gold medal game together across Canada for what seems like an eternity now - Miller alone, in fact, started calling Canada/gold medal games all the way back in 2002, so, in an industry where it seems most of the "lifers" have started either dying of old age, or just plain retiring, it seems as if that broadcast pairing will end up being one of the few "longtime" partnerships...) was that winning, whether it's bronze, as the U.S. did on each occasion in Buffalo, defeating Sweden back in 2011, and, again, the Czechs this year, is much better than losing, as Canada found out in epic fashion back in 2011, blowing a 3-0 lead to Russia all within the final 20 minutes, made even worse, if you ask me, by the fact that they had to listen to an air raid siren the whole period, whenever the Russians scored, which, in a sense, seems fitting, but doesn't make that any less unnerving of a sound, historically speaking... Also, after the game, everybody piled on the Swedish captain for first accepting his silver medal, but then going fling!, and tossing it into the front row, which, honestly, is an extreme way to express one's frustration, even though the Canadian fans all ganged up on the officials after their team defeated Russia in Toronto in 2015, when they accepted their "sportsmanship" medals, so, honestly, in my opinion, they don't have much ground to stand on, when it comes to defining "class" in those situations!

Also, in still more sadly inevitable retail news, it looks like Macy*s is joining the much-maligned in recent years Kmart/Sears duo in shutting down dozens of locations early this year - specifically, Macy*s is said to be set to close about 100 locations, while Kmart will be shuttering 64 locations, and Sears 39, for a total there of 103 locations between them, at least for now; in non-department store updates, Mattress Firm apparently learned its lesson from buying Sleepy's "the hard way", since it's also planning on shutting down somewhere between 100 and 200 locations very soon, and Toys "R" Us is reportedly set to close somewhere in the 100-200 location range itself very soon, so that's just yet another "nail in the coffin" of physical retail, and another win for online retail going forward!

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/toys-‘r’-us-is-said-to-consider-closing-at-least-100-stores/ar-BBGZhVb

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/macys-announces-5000-job-cuts-more-store-closures/ar-BBHRtZV?ocid=sf

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/04/here-are-the-stores-macys-is-closing-next.html

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/04/sears-is-closing-more-than-100-more-stores.html

(enough negativity, though; how 'bout some retail nostalgia?)

St. Cloud State (MN) @ Princeton doubleheader recap, and some *stunning* political news

(part 1 of 2; Fri. night, 12/29/17)

temperature at puck drop: 18 degrees; "feels like": 15 without wind; about 5 with wind (about 5 MPH); cloud cover: 26%; relative humidity: 45%

after the game: 15 degrees; "feels like": same; light wind breezes (still only about 5 MPH); cloud cover: still 26%; relative humidity: 56%

attendance: listed as 2,048; most likely less than that, however...

"...what was I wearing?", you might be asking right now: Smith's WorkWear either flannel or fleece-lined denim; U.S.P.S. turtleneck, if you'll allow me to get "specific" there; U.S.A. 1980 Olympics white with blue/red trim replica sweater (incidentally, the "junior" team defeated its Canadian counterpart, 4-3, coming back from 3-1 to do so, in a shootout, outdoors, in front of 44,000+ incredibly brave human beings, in Orchard Park, N.Y., while also wearing Buffalo Bills (NFL)-styled sweaters); Old Navy flannel "trench coat"

In all seriousness, though, despite the ridiculous cold outside (probably the one time a hockey rink would actually be warmer than the "great outdoors"), the first game between St. Cloud State (MN) and Princeton was quite the fast-paced contest - Princeton, surprisingly, started out with more offensive zone pressure than the (current) #1 team in college hockey, although St. Cloud State withstood it long enough to convert the first goal of the opening frame, taking a 1-1 tie into the intermission after it only took Princeton about another three minutes to answer!

Princeton only turned the possession and shooting up a notch in the second period, however, scoring not just once, but twice, during that frame, including converting on a pair of St. Cloud State penalties, to turn the 1-1 tie into a 2-1 lead after two, and ended up taking a 3-1 lead, and certainly setting off many "upset alert" alarm bells, through most of the third period!

Once Princeton took said 3-1 lead, though, St. Cloud State just absolutely took over the offense for the rest of the game, scoring twice itself to wipe out the lead that Princeton had just a few minutes earlier on in the final frame, getting a pair of "man advantage" goals of its own (although not on the penalty that came right after the 2-1 goal), along with practically all of the shots in those few minutes, to send the game to overtime...

In that overtime, instead of only partially dominating, St. Cloud State literally completely dominated those last five (extra) minutes, notching all 14 shots in the extra session, although, almost amazingly, Princeton's defense just "collapsed" in on the crease, and, what did get through, the Princeton goaltender just absolutely robbed, in order to allow Princeton to survive and take a 3-3 tied final score through the following 18 hours or so!

In other college hockey news right now, as you very well might have heard/seen by now, Erie, PA, just got slammed by feet of snow a few days ago, so the doubleheader between Mercyhurst, based in Erie, and RIT (the Rochester Institute of Technology), this weekend's visitors there, has been postponed "until further notice", according to both schools - there's just one problem, though; neither has any open weekends throughout the entire spring semester half (or so) of the schedule, leading into the conference playoffs!

Princeton box score/recap

St. Cloud State recap

(part 2 of 2; Sat. night, 12/30/17)

temperature at puck drop: 21 degrees; "feels like": 16 without wind; about 5 with wind (about 7 MPH); cloud cover: 65%; relative humidity: 67%

after the game: 21 degrees; "feels like": 12 degrees; light wind breezes (still only about 8 MPH); cloud cover: 2%; relative humidity: 59%

(all weather figures, both Fri. and Sat., courtesy of AccuWeather)

attendance: listed as 1,897; more truthful than calling the previous game a "sellout", when none existed, but still most likely less than that, however...

snowfall measurement(s) that night: about two inches

"...what was I wearing?", you might be asking right now: Smith's WorkWear either flannel or fleece-lined denim; Old Navy thermal undershirt; Eddie Bauer yellow cotton sweatshirt; U.S.A. 1980 Olympics white with blue/red trim replica sweater; grey/red North Face fleece jacket (I actually found a grey/white one of those a few weeks ago); Old Navy flannel "trench coat"

This time around, however, St. Cloud State sure showed itself more as playing like the #1 team in the entire college hockey nation, taking the majority of the shots during the first period, although with nothing to show for it, as Princeton made sure to mostly immediately clear its zone the entire time, through a parade of penalties both ways at various points during the frame, leading to a scoreless opening 20 minutes of action...

St. Cloud State opened the scoring just a short while into the second period, though, but Princeton suddenly decided that late in that period would be the perfect time to close the gap in the shot totals, and that sudden "offense-first" mentality gave way to the tying goal for Princeton, as an extended bit of offensive zone pressure led to a backhanded rebound that got put home, and then, suddenly, a late St. Cloud State penalty set up an interesting start to the final (regulation) period of hockey this (calendar) year!

Indeed, Princeton would convert that late second period penalty into the go-ahead goal for the second time in as many nights, just a half-minute into the final period, although St. Cloud State would once again answer after a brutal penalty call to tie the game once again, with numerous chances on both ends not getting turned into game winners, meaning that there would be a second consecutive overtime session played between the teams!

Unlike the previous night's game, though, when St. Cloud State just put out an absolute blitz against the Princeton "D", only to not get a game-winning goal to show for it, this five-minute overtime period was much more even, with Princeton edging St. Cloud State, shots-wise, yet, again, despite some very close calls on both nets then, the teams skated to another tie!

Princeton box score/recap (with a rather "matter-of-fact" title)

St. Cloud State recap

The following weekend, I'll be at the "new" Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, out on Long Island, for Army vs. Sacred Heart, specifically in sec. 119/row 5/seat 10, since, in checking out a few images online from people attending games for the Long Island Nets there (the minor league affiliate of the formerly-Meadowlands-based basketball team), the 200-level seats there seem to have some obstructed views, particularly up top, in the rafters, so, in order to avoid such a situation for myself, I decided to "spring" for something in the 100-level seats!

(also, Bentley University will be opening a new 2,000-seat arena on its campus in Waltham, Mass., this upcoming February, with the last games at its old rink to take place against Air Force Fri. 9 and Sat. 10, and the first games at its new rink the following weekend against Army...)

http://www.uscho.com/2017/12/20/long-time-coming-new-bentley-arena-going-to-be-as-good-as-any-facility-in-division-i/

Also, not sports-related, but Peru went from having the national soccer team's qualification for next summer's FIFA (soccer) World Cup over in Russia, to having its government pull a stunt that might very well have happened quite often over in the old Soviet Union/current Russia, as the current President, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, who defeated the by then-twice defeated Keiko Fujimori, daughter of the disgraced/jailed former Peruvian President, the half-Japanese/half-Peruvian, Alberto Fujimori, himself already standing trial for bribery charges related to the infamous Odebrecht construction firm over in Brazil - basically, the Latin American equivalent of the massive Enron collapse up here back in the early 2000s - since he inexplicably pardoned Alberto Fujimori just over the Christmas weekend! Not saying Peru will become Latin America's next "collapsed" country/economy overnight, or anything, simply as a result of that sudden pardon, but, if it wasn't for Sebastian Piñera winning the most recent Chilean Presidential election over a self-proclaimed socialist, Michele Bachelet, recently, it would seem that Latin America re-entered the "dark ages" of the 20th century all over again, when military regimes ruled practically every country on that continent, and all the currencies down there were hyper-inflated, along with, in this case, a fascist former military officer, Jair Bolsonaro, poised to advance to the "runoff" round of next year's Brazilian Presidential election voting, who has issued statements in the past openly defending the Brazilian military regime that existed between 1964 and 1985 ("officially", since the hyper-inflation that it brought about lasted beyond its existence, into the early '90s, forcing Brazil to drop the "cruzeiro" as its currency)...