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!)
(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:
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:
...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:
(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":
...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:
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!
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