My appologies to anyone following the blog. The server was down for a few weeks which resulted in losing some blogs and I didn't take time over our Chirstmas break to write as I was spending the week with my family and friends.

As for the update, our last series in December was with Bethel. We have beaten Bethel in past years. This year, they played us very well in our MIAC series with them. We tied them in Friday's game 1-1 and won Saturday's game 1-0. They came out ready for us on Friday and I think they owed much of their momentum throughout the game to their quick start. I felt we played better as the game progressed, but that was only good enough to get one goal, which was disappointing. On Saturday, we narrowly beat the Royals in a very exciting game. Saturday was probably the lowest scoring college hockey game I have ever been a part of.  Bethel has proven to us that they are a team with a lot of determination. We will be playing them again in mid-Janurary, which should be a way for us to evaluate our improvements on the season and take things we have learned and apply them.

We had a week of captain's practice following the Bethel series and then came finals. I was pleasantly surprised with how my finals week went. Being a senior, I think I have learned from my past finals week mistakes and got through the week as stress-free as possible. I felt good about my tests and group projects, which was a good way to start off the break.

I can't say it was easy to find ice to skate over Christmas break. Usually I skate with my high school team, but they didn't have much ice over the time that I was back in town. Instead, I spent some time skating outdoors playing pickup hockey. I have to say, I have missed pickup hockey a lot since being in college. It is probably my favorite thing about the sport. In pickup, all ages play together, meaning the squirts take on the high schoolers. It's a good way to work on puck-handling skills and just remember what makes hockey so fun.

I spent the rest of Christmas break up at our cabin in northwestern Wisconsin. We rode snowmobiles and spent a lot of time playing games with family. One of my cousin's got the guitar hero game for Christmas and I enjoyed showing off my video-game guitar skills I'd developed while in college.

Last weekend I came down with the flu so I was nervous about feeling weak coming into practice after not being able to eat for two days. Thankfully, it was a 24 hour type of flu so I was feeling much better by Monday when practice rolled around. Overall, I think the week started out well though. It seemed we had some trouble passing and handling the puck in the first half hour of our practice, but after that we settled down and were able to get back into things. I think we all know how hard we have to work this week to be on top of our game, both mentally and physically, and I don't think anyone is taking it lightly.  

It's sort of strange coming back to campus when no one is here. The cafeteria isn't open so we are eating at various restaurants around town for the week. I can't wait to play the number one ranked team in the nation on Friday. Amherst should be a great test for us and a chance to prove to the country the type of caliber hockey we play in the West. (You see, it's a game of pride for our region.) I have faith we'll be ready to give them a good match.