Rams 5, Warriors 2

One thing we did while we were in Minnesota was attend a hockey game. Roseau High School is the defending state class AA boys hockey team, and they have a tournament over the holidays. The games that we saw (I only saw the first one), the Rams pretty much mowed down the competition. My brothers had never seen a high school hockey game before, but I think they enjoyed it. Tony said he now has to find some high school hockey in the Philadelphia area. No fighting allowed at the high school level, though the checking can be pretty ferocious. I think I might be able to recognize icing and offsides if I saw it now. Maybe. It was pretty funny at one point before the first game. Andy was sitting in the bleachers with his brand-new Roseau stocking cap on, and a fellow walked by, grabbed his arm, pounded him on the back, and kept going. Small towns. Gotta love them. Especially when the hockey team is doing well.

Anyway, Tony had been checking out the Roseau Rams website, and found that the Roseau/Warroad game was going to be on Fox Sports Network North, and we might be able to see it if we had DirectTV. We don't even have cable, and if we did, our local cable company doesn't carry it. We found out where it was, and went to our friendly neighborhood sports bar, here in Virginia, Glory Days Grill. I stepped up to the hostess desk and asked about it. One of the employees went to check, and soon a manager came by. He said the channel was up, but he couldn't guarantee that it would stay up, as the local service sometimes changes feed mid-game for something more local. This does not go over well with some customers. Anyway, he seated us, and it wasn't too hard to tell which sets to watch, as they were showing "Vikings Week."

Long story short, we watched a high school hockey game in Minnesota in a restaurant in Virginia. We saw the whole game, and I texted my SIL who was in the stands. Also my nephew, who asked "Who is this?" He didn't know I had his number.

Ain't technology grand?

Quote of the night, from a Warroad hockey player: "We know these guys. We sometimes carpool down to the Cities with them. It's like playing your brother -- you wanna beat the crap out of them!" Roseau and Warroad are 21 miles apart. In fact, one of our nephews goes to Warroad High, even though he lives just outside Roseau. Traitor.

I also got a crick in my neck watching the game sideways, which morphed into a backache. I had to go to bed early the next night, and well-medicated, too.